BV  2060  .A45  1920 

American  Baptist  Convention 

Board  of  Education. 
The  triumph  of  the 

misRinnarv  motive 


^S!St  OF  PBtttfJg 
OCT  85  1920 

THE  TRIUMPH  V^8S!cal_s^> 

OF  THE 

MISSIONARY  MOTIVE 


EDITED  BY  THE 

DEPARTMENT  OF  MISSIONARY  EDUCATION 
BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

OF  THE 

NORTHERN  BAPTIST  CONVENTION 

276  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 


PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

BOSTON  CHICAGO  ST.  LOUIS         NEW  YORK 

LOS  ANGELES  KANSAS  CITY  SEATTLE  TORONTO 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK,  Secretary 

Published  August,  1920 


FOREWORD 

The  Christian  message  is  being  tested  in 
the  fire-light  of  a  world  conflagration.  Has 
this  message  the  vitality  to  survive  the 
wreck  of  ruined  nations  and  broken  faith? 
Can  it  justify  its  supreme  claim  that  it  can 
bring  universal  blessing  to  the  world  ?  The 
answers  must  be  negative  unless  this  mes- 
sage is  fundamentally  missionary. 

The  World  War  has  broken  international 
ties.  May  we  expect  that  the  Christian  mes- 
sage will  tie  together  international  hopes  and 
open  the  way  for  a  new  moral  endeavor  in 
the  world?  The  answer  is  yes,  if  its  mis- 
sionary note  be  sounded. 

New  perils  confront  us.  As  suddenly  as 
armies  of  men  withdrew  from  the  field  of 
conflict,  other  armies  of  sinister  forces  took 
their  places  in  a  new  and  mightier  warfare. 
Will  the  Christian  message  suffice  for  this 
hour?  Not  unless  it  has  an  inter-racial 
bearing,  for  all,  equally,  everywhere. 

The  dangers  of  inertia  and  indifference 
which  always  follow  the  expenditure  of  sym- 
pathetic energy  are  especially  to  be  feared 
now.  The  delivery  of  the  missionary  mes- 
sage in  full  vigor  is  our  great  hope. 


Foreword 


It  is  not  enough  that  our  altruistic  and 
humanitarian  impulses  should  have  been 
awakened,  but  it  is  our  obligation  to  give 
such  organized  direction  to  those  impulses 
that  it  may  never  again  be  forgotten  that 
the  way  to  world  betterment  is  not  through 
expediency  but  Christian  brotherhood.  The 
recognition  of  this  truth  indicates  the  com- 
ing triumph  of  the  missionary  motive. 

This  series  of  closely  related  articles, 
covering  various  phases  of  the  present 
world  situation,  was  written  expressly  in 
demonstration  of  the  theme  of  the  book,  and 
first  appeared  in  the  denominational  press. 
The  writers  were  peculiarly  qualified  and 
chosen  for  this  task,  and  the  interest  already 
awakened  is  evidence  that  these  statements 
should  form  a  permanent  contribution  to  the 
materials  for  missionary  education. 

These  studies  are  presented  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Department  of  Missionary 
Education  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and 
they  are  particularly  recommended  for  sup- 
plementary reading  and  study  in  connection 
with  the  new  Foreign  Mission  study  text- 
book, "  The  Bible  and  Missions,"  by  Mrs. 
Helen  Barrett  Montgomery. 

William  A.  Hill, 
Secretary  of  Missionary  Education. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

Foreword  in 

I.  The  Missionary  Motive  Fundamental 

in  Christianity  1 

Frederick  L.  Anderson,  Professor  in 
Newton  Theological  Institution. 

II.  The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World 

War 15 

John  H.  Mason,  Formerly  Professor  in 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary. 

III.  Some  Contributions  of  Christian  Mis- 

sions in  War-time.    Part  1 35 

James  H.  Franklin,  Foreign  Secretary, 
American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society. 

IV.  Some  Contributions  of  Christian  Mis- 

sions in.War-time.    Part  II 49 

James  H.  Franklin. 

V.  The  Social  Application  of  the  Mission- 
ary Motive  Abroad  63 

Joseph  C.  bobbins,  Foreign  Secretary, 
American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society. 


Contents 


Chapter  Page 

VI.  The  Social  Application  of  the  Mission- 
ary Motive  at  Home  83 

Justin  O.' Nixon,  Professor  in  Roches- 
ter Theological  Seminary. 

VII.  Ought  the  United  States  to  be  a  Mis- 
sionary Nation  ?   101 

Ernest  D.  Burton,  Professor  in  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago. 

VIII.  The  Missionary  Motive — Its  Appeal  to 

the  Youth  of  Our  Day 117 

v 
P.  H.  J.  Lerrigo,  Candidate  Secretary, 

American    Baptist    Foreign    Mission 

Society. 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE 

FUNDAMENTAL  IN 

CHRISTIANITY 

By  FREDERICK  L.  ANDERSON 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE 

FUNDAMENTAL  IN 

CHRISTIANITY 


Christianity  is  fundamentally  missionary. 
By  this  we  mean  that  the  missionary  ingre- 
dient is  an  original,  essential,  necessary  and 
indispensable  major  element  in  it;  that 
Christianity  is  not  itself  without  it ;  that  the 
missionary  spirit  is  no  offshoot  or  by- 
product, but  belongs  to  the  very  central 
core  of  our  religion.  The  professing  Chris- 
tian, who  does  not  see  and  feel  this,  has  yet 
to  learn  what  real  Christianity  is. 

I.  Consider  in  the  first  place  that  Chris- 
tianity has  a  missionary  God.  The  greatest 
conception  of  the  human  mind  is  God.  He 
is  before,  behind,  and  in  all,  the  basis  of  ex- 
istence, the  foundation  of  the  universe,  the 
fountain  of  life.  Our  religion  simply  pre- 
supposes God  and  makes  two  primary  asser- 
tions about  Him,  viz. :  that  God  is  Light 
(holiness),  and  that  God  is  Love.  It  does 
not  think  of  Him  as  the  Infinite,  the  Abso- 
lute, and  the  Unknowable,  but  as  the  One 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

who  reveals  Himself  to  His  creatures  and 
shares  with  them  His  life  and  blessing,  as 
the  heavenly  Father  who  gives  good  gifts  to 
His  children,  tenderly  cares  for  them,  and 
especially  bestows  on  them  His  love.  In- 
deed, there  is  no  sacrifice  which  He  will  not 
make  for  them,  "for  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not  per- 
ish, but  have  everlasting  life."  He  so  loved 
that  He  gave.  That  describes  His  character. 
He  is  the  God  of  love,  the  giving  God.  In 
sending  his  Son  to  live  and  die  for  us,  He 
made  the  greatest  of  all  sacrifices.  But  as 
some  one  has  well  said,  that  is  really  an  un- 
derstatement. When  He  made  the  supreme 
effort  for  our  salvation,  He  did  not  give 
something  or  send  somebody  else.  He 
came  Himself  (in  Christ).  So  God  was  the 
preeminent  missionary.  But  His  mission- 
ary spirit  and  work  long  antedates  the  time 
when  in  the  historical  Christ  He  strove  to 
reconcile  the  world  unto  Himself.  In  a  very 
real  sense  He  has  loved  the  lost  and  borne 
the  cross  for  them  since  the  race  began. 

II.  Christianity  has  a  missionary  Saviour. 
The  Spirit  of  the  Father  was  his  spirit.  He 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  He  had 
the  Saviour  heart  of  God. 

Jesus  was-  himself  an  active  missionary. 


The  Missionary  Motive  Fundamental 

No  missionary  was  ever  more  aggressive. 
He  sought  men.  He  did  not  wait  for  men 
to  come  to  him.  He  went  after  them.  So 
it  was  an  itinerant  ministry.  Persistently 
he  pursued  his  preaching  tours  from  village 
to  village,  from  city  to  city,  from  province 
to  province,  until  he  had  covered  all  the  im- 
portant divisions  of  the  Jewish  fatherland. 
He  sought  personal  contact  with  the  largest 
possible  number  of  individuals.  His  speak- 
ing campaign  has  rarely  been  equaled  even 
in  modern  times  for  comprehensiveness  and 
thoroughness.  The  white  harvest  was  al- 
ways before  his  eyes  and  on  his  heart.  He 
prayed  for  helpers  and  urged  others  to  pray 
for  them.  No  difficulties  or  weariness  held 
him  back.  Over  the  mountains  and  through 
the  wilderness,  the  Good  Shepherd  sought 
his  sheep.  At  last,  he  did  not  shrink  from 
laying  down  his  life  for  them. 

He  was  not  content  with  being  the  only 
missionary,  but  he  organized  large  mission- 
ary movements.  From  the  very  first,  he  had 
designed  to  make  his  followers  "  fishers  of 
men."  He  taught  them  the  deepest  desire  of 
his  own  heart  as  their  chief  prayer,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven."  He  named  them  "  apostles," 
which  means  missionaries.  While  they  were 
still  ill-prepared,  he  sent  them  out  by  the 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

dozen  and  the  seventy  on  missionary  preach- 
ing tours.  At  last,  after  the  resurrection,  he 
bade  them  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature.  "  The  field  is 
the  world  "  was  his  conception  of  it,  and  it 
was  to  be  evangelized  by  his  followers. 
When  he  left  them,  he  placed  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  great  task  squarely  upon  their 
shoulders,  promising  his  almighty  aid.  He 
has  never  revoked  or  altered  that  last  Com- 
mission. Aggression  is  its  keynote.  It  is  a 
trumpet  call  to  a  charge.  The  battle  will 
be  won  when  Christians  obey  it  and  not 
before. 

III.  The  Christian  experience  is  funda- 
mentally missionary.  As  is  necessary  in  any 
such  general  discussion,  we  refer  to  the 
normal  Christian  experience,  not  to  the  ex- 
perience of  a  Paul  on  the  one  hand,  nor  to 
the  superficial  flabby  experience,  so  common 
nowadays,  on  the  other.  This  normal  Chris- 
tian experience  is  so  rich  and  varied  that  it 
may  be  truly  described  in  many  ways,  but, 
however  described,  it  will  be  seen  to  have 
necessarily  a  profoundly  missionary  element. 

It  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  choice  or  defi- 
nite acceptance  of  Christ  and  a  life  of  devo- 
tion to  him.  But  by  this  we  must  at  least 
mean  that  we  have  freely  chosen  Christ  as 
the  ideal  of  life,  as  the  determining  factor  in 


The  Missionary  Motive  Fundamental 

all  our  plans  and  decisions,  and  that  we 
gladly  devote  ourselves  to  doing  his  will,  to 
carrying  out  his  purposes.  But  who  is  this 
Christ?  The  greatest  of  all  missionaries. 
And  what  is  his  central  purpose?  The 
bringing  of  the  world  to  love  and  obey  God, 
which  is  nothing  else  than  the  missionary 
program. 

Or,  more  profoundly,  salvation  through 
Christ  may  be  looked  upon  as  God's  greatest 
blessing,  which  Faith  receives  with  thankful- 
ness and  humility.  It  is  all  of  grace,  the  un- 
speakable good,  the  undeserved  gift  of  pure 
love.  In  it  we  have  forgiveness  through 
Christ,  reconciliation  and  peace  with  God,  a 
new  purity,  a  new  largeness  of  love,  a  new 
power  to  overcome  in  the  moral  struggle,  a 
new  and  recreating  purpose,  which  alto- 
gether constitute  a  new  life,  eternal  life. 
Our  hearts  rise  in  sincerest  gratitude  to 
God,  a  gratitude  which  must  express  itself 
not  only  in  praise,  but  in  action  pleasing  to 
Him.  And  what  is  His  dearest  wish  ?  The 
salvation  of  the  world.  And  what  does  He 
ask  us  to  do?  To  take  our  part  in  that 
great  enterprise. 

The  possession  of  such  a  supreme  blessing 
also  puts  us  under  the  most  sacred  obliga- 
tion to  our  fellow  men  who  do  not  have  it. 
Freely  we  have  received,  freely  also  we  must. 


Tlie  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

give.  The  new  life  in  Christ  is  the  best 
thing  in  the  world.  No  other  religion  has 
anything  to  compare  with  it.  It  is  salva- 
tion, salvation  from  sin  and  selfishness  and 
spiritual  death,  salvation  for  the  individual 
and  for  society,  for  this  life  and  the  life  to 
come.  What  shall  we  think  of  the  man  who 
would  keep  it  to  himself?  How  shall  we 
characterize  the  depths  of  his  selfishness, 
the  meanness  of  his  cowardice,  the  hardness 
of  his  heart  ?  The  ethics  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession requires  the  discoverer  or  inventor 
of  a  new  remedy  to  proclaim  it  openly  to  a 
sick  and  dying  world  without  thought  or 
hope  of  financial  reward,  and  looks  with  de- 
served contempt  on  the  man  who  declines  to 
do  so.  If  I  discovered  a  sure  cure  for  can- 
cer and  with  it  healed  myself  of  that  dread 
disease  and  then  refused  to  tell  my  secret, 
the  whole  world  would  rightly  call  me  a 
criminal.  But  we  Christians  have  a  surer 
remedy  for  the  more  dreadful  spiritual  ills 
of  men  and  society;  how  much  more  se- 
verely shall  we  be  judged  if  we  hold  our 
peace  ?  Can  we  blame  the  world  for  doubt- 
ing the  reality  and  effectiveness  of  our  re- 
ligion, if  we  continue  our  guilty  silence? 
"  Why  didn't  you  tell  us  before?  "  from  the 
lips  of  the  heathen  is  an  inescapable  condem- 
nation. 

8 


The  Missionary  Motive  Fundamental 

But,  more  profoundly  still,  we  must  re- 
member that  in  the  blessing  of  salvation 
God  gives  us  Himself.  In  the  great  experi- 
ences of  forgiveness  and  reconciliation  and 
the  inflow  of  the  new  life,  we  recognize  that 
we  are  dealing  with  a  Person,  and  that  that 
Person  is  God  in  Christ.  And  this  experi- 
ence of  dealing  with  a  Person  and  learning 
to  know  Him  as  all  gracious,  all  pure,  and 
all  victorious  grows  with  our  Christian  life. 
Especially  do  we  become  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  Great  Friend  when  we 
enter  into  His  work  for  men,  bear  our  cross, 
and  know  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings. 
To  know  God  thus  in  the  experiences  of  sal- 
vation, work  and  suffering  is  not  only  the 
highest  privilege,  but  the  highest  function  of 
the  Christian  and  of  the  Church.  And  its 
inevitable  corollary  is  that  we  shall  thus 
make  Him  known,  and  bring  this  experience 
of  knowing  God  as  Saviour  and  Friend  to 
other  men.  To  know  God  and  to  make  Him 
known,  that  is  the  whole  business  of  the 
Christian  and  of  Christianity.  But,  strange 
to  say,  while  we  cannot  make  God  known 
till  we  know  Him,  it  is  only  in  making  Him 
known  that  we  can  conserve,  deepen,  and 
enrich  our  acquaintance  with  Him.  But  to 
make  God  known  in  experience  to  other  men 
is  Missions. 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

And  when  God  gives  Himself  to  us,  we 
have  Him  in  our  hearts.  As  the  New  Testa- 
ment expresses  it,  we  have  His  Spirit,  Christ 
in  us,  and  we  in  Christ.  So  in  a  sense  it  is 
no  longer  our  old  self  that  lives,  but  Christ 
lives  in  us,  he  reincarnates  himself  in  us. 
Through  us  he  speaks  to  the  world.  In  our 
conduct,  spirit,  and  temper  the  world  sees 
him  again.  We  bear  about  in  our  body  the 
dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  his  resurrec- 
tion life  of  triumph  may  also  be  manifested 
in  our  mortal  body.  The  true  Christian 
seeks  to  save  the  lost,  not  merely  because  he 
has  devoted  himself  to  do  Christ's  will,  not 
merely  from  gratitude  to  God  or  duty  to- 
ward his  fellows,  but  because  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  is  in  him  and  he  cannot  help  loving 
men  as  Jesus  loved  them,  bearing  their  sor- 
rows as  he  bore  them,  and  bringing  to 
them  the  great  salvation  as  he  brought  it 
to  them.  Thus  Christ  reproduces  his  Sav- 
iour heart  and  his  missionary  motive  in  the 
Christian. 

We  do  not  try  to  be,  but  we  are  the  salt  of 
the  earth  and  the  light  of  the  world.  If 
Christ  dwells  in  us,  we  cannot  but  preserve 
society  and  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  God.  Our  life  simply  overflows  to  other 
men.  "  He  that  believeth  on  me,  out  of  him 
shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."    The  very 

10 


The  Missionary  Motive  Fundamental 

genius  of  our  religion  is  expansion.  Propa- 
gation is  the  law  of  the  spiritual  life.  "  No 
man  was  ever  yet  convinced  of  any  mo- 
mentous truth  without  feeling  in  himself  the 
power  as  well  as  the  desire  to  communicate 
it."  To  tell  the  story  of  salvation  is  the  in- 
stinct and  first  impulse  of  the  new-born  soul, 
the  inevitable  outworking  of  the  inner  divine 
life. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  love,  not  oi' 
an  agreeable  sentimentalism  which  ends  in 
itself,  but  a  Christian  love,  which  expresses 
itself  in  actively  doing  good  to  all  men  even 
at  cost  to  itself.  Christ  in  fact  for  the  first 
time  made  active  love  the  reigning  principle 
in  ethics  and  in  life.  If  we  choose  Christ, 
we  choose  a  life  of  love.  When  we  devote 
ourselves  to  him,  we  devote  ourselves  to  do- 
ing good  to  men.  We  love  because  he  first 
loved  us.  Our  loving  gratitude  to  God  for 
all  His  spiritual  gifts  can  take  no  form  more 
pleasing  to  Him  than  active  love  of  those  for 
whom  Christ  died.  The  more  fully  we 
know  God,  the  more  clearly  do  we  know  that 
He  is  Love.  Love,  self-sacrifice,  service,  are 
the  words  which  express  Christ's  spirit  of 
self -giving  best  of  all,  and  they  are  the  great 
missionary  words.  How  can  the  loveless 
profess  a  religion  of  love  or  men  indifferent 
to  the  salvation  of  the  world  claim  loyalty 

ii 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

to  the  world's  Saviour?  How  can  they  give 
a  pittance  or  nothing  to  the  cause  nearest  the 
heart  of  God  and  still  call  themselves  His 
children  ?  Such  men  do  not  perceive  the  in- 
dictment that  their  indifference  to  missions 
brings  against  their  own  spiritual  experience 
and  their  Christian  name.  They  do  not  yet 
know  what  Christianity  is,  or  what  it  is  to 
be  followers  of  Jesus. 

IV.  Christianity  has  a  missionary  history. 
Of  this  we  American  Christians  are  ocular 
evidence.  Our  religion  has  come  down  to  us 
from  our  forefathers,  who  inhabited  the  for- 
ests of  Germany  and  Scandinavia,  and  after- 
ward came  to  ancient  England  and  Scotland. 
They  owed  their  conversion  in  the  main  to 
the  missionary  zeal  of  Italian  and  other 
Christians,  who  in  turn  had  received  the 
message  from  men  who  started  from  Syrian 
Antioch.  But  Antioch  had  been  evangelized 
by  preachers  from  Jerusalem,  the  seat  of  the 
first  Christian  Church.  Moreover,  from  us 
Americans  has  sounded  out  the  word  in  re- 
cent years  to  all  the  great  civilizations  of 
Asia,  to  the  darkened  tribes  of  Africa,  to 
South  America,  and  to  the  islands  of  the 
sea.  The  fact  that  Christianity  is  today  a 
world  religion  and  not  a  forgotten  little 
Jewish  sect,  is  due  to  its  missionary  char- 
acter. 

12 


The  Missionary  Motive  Fundamental 

But  this  brief  sketch  of  the  history  is  not 
enough.    A  very  superficial  study  will  prove 
that  Christianity  has  been  most  missionary 
when  at  its  best,  and  its  best  when  most  mis- 
sionary. Its  classic  epochs  of  enthusiasm  and 
greatness  have  been  characterized  by  glow- 
ing missionary  zeal.     This  was  especially 
true  of  those  first  three  centuries,  when  the 
religion  of  Jesus  conquered  the  mighty  em- 
pire of  the  Caesars  in  spite  of  the  crudest 
persecutions  and  the  most  desperate  resis- 
tance.    The  Dark  Ages,  during  which  the 
Church  was  corrupt,  ignorant,  and  almost 
heathenish,  saw  the  slow  death  of  the  mis- 
sionary endeavor.     With  the  Reformation 
the  old  missionary  spirit  revived,  the  new 
light  was  carried  by  willing  hands  often  at 
the  cost  of  martyrdom,  through  all  Western 
Europe.      When   lethargy    and    formalism 
later  seemed  to  foreshadow  the  death  of 
Protestantism,  Wesley's  glorious  revival  of 
evangelism,  and  Carey's  and  Judson's  mis- 
sions to  India  showed  that  the  spell  was 
broken  and  that  the  new  day  had  dawned. 
Nor  is  anything  so  cheering  in  our  own 
dark  time  as  the  seemingly  universal  resolu- 
tion of  the  church  of  God  to  refound,  en- 
large, and  carry  through  to  the  end  its  mis- 
sionary work  at  home  and  abroad.     This 
great  venture  of  Faith  at  the  beginning  of 

13 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

our  Twentieth  Century  is  the  evidence  of 
Christianity's  vitality  and  the  prophecy  of 
its  triumph.  Those  who  cannot  see  it  are 
spiritually  blind,  those  who  refuse  to  heed 
the  call  do  so  at  their  spiritual  peril. 


H 


II 

THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE 
IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

By  JOHN  H.  MASON 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE 
IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 


Missions  and  war — how  far  apart  they 
seem !  War  essentially  destructive ;  missions 
altogether  constructive.  War  death-deal- 
ing ;  missions  life-giving.  War  projected  by 
men;  missions  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  War  commonly  aiming  at  the  exten- 
sion of  an  earthly  kingdom;  the  missionary 
motive  always  aiming  at  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  From  whatever  angle 
considered,  war  and  missions  are  as  far 
apart  as  darkness  and  light.  What  place 
then  had  the  missionary  motive  in  the  war 
of  the  nations? 

The  Scope  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

We  must  learn  to  discriminate  between 
the  missionary  motive  and  missionary  insti- 
tutions. The  motive  is  one  thing,  the  ma- 
chinery quite  another.  The  institution  may 
spring  from  the  motive;  but  the  motive  may 
be  vitally  at  work  where  there  is  no  institu- 

b  17 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

tion.  In  the  thought  of  many,  the  mission- 
ary motive  concerns  itself  only  with  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 
That  conception  is  far  too  narrow.  The 
missionary  motive  springs  from  that  love 
in  the  heart  which  is  from  God  and  which 
burns  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  human  heart 
everywhere.  On  the  strength  of  that  love, 
Jesus  issued  his  Great  Commission  as  well 
as  many  a  lesser  commission  along  the  way. 
And  he  who  knows  that  love  longs  to  carry 
Jesus  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus  into  the  heart 
of  all  mankind.  But  the  spirit  of  Jesus  was 
made  manifest  and  his  teachings  were  ener- 
gized and  emphasized  by  every  act  of  his 
daily  life.  Wherever  he  met  human  suffer- 
ing, his  impulse  was  to  heal.  They  only  can 
claim  his  name  who  do  his  will.  "  As  my 
Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you." 
Thus  the  missionary  motive  is  wider  than 
missionary  institutions.  Every  Christian 
may  know  the  blessed  impulse  and  may  do 
the  Father's  will. 

Is  the  Christian  Church  True  to  Its 

Mission  and  to  the  Great 

Commission? 

The  criticism  of  the  church  never  ceases. 
And  so  far  as  it  is  unprejudiced  and  rea- 

iS 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

sonable,  it  should  not  cease.  The  church 
has  learned  much  during  the  past  five  years 
from  the  honest  criticism  of  its  friends  as 
well  as  from  that  of  its  foes.  The  war  has 
aroused  many  a  man  and  many  an  institu- 
tion to  a  reconsideration  of  its  mission  and 
its  opportunity.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
modern  church  has  never  so  given  itself  to 
self-examination  and  to  the  serious  con- 
sideration of  its  duty  to  humanity  as  during 
the  last  half  decade.  The  war  has  come  as  a 
revelation  and  a  challenge  to  those  who 
name  the  name  of  Christ. 

Outside  Agencies  Which  are  Christian 

We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  there 
are  many  Christian  agencies  at  work  out- 
side the  bounds  of  the  church  itself  which 
have  been  inspired  by  Jesus.  In  these,  also, 
is  working  the  missionary  motive.  They 
too  are  extending  the  kingdom.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  these  agencies,  though 
not  strictly  reckoned  as  activities  of  the 
church,  are,  for  the  most  part,  manned  and 
managed  by  those  who  are  members  of  the 
Christian  church.  Christ  is  in  the  midst  of 
them  and  in  the  heart  of  their  management, 
and  the  altruistic  motive  is  driving  their 
machinery. 

19 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

The  activity  of  the  Christian  church  and 
the  activities  of  these  related  agencies  have 
saved  the  war.  In  wars  of  former  times  lit- 
tle or  no  attention  was  paid  to  the  moral 
welfare  of  the  men  who  composed  the 
armies.  But  in  the  great  war,  no  sooner 
had  the  armies  begun  their  march  than 
Christian  institutions,  of  whatever  name,  be- 
gan to  mobilize  their  forces  for  action.  In 
the  months  that  followed,  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars  were  called  for  and  the 
money  came  pouring  in  in  floods.  It  was  to 
be  expended  in  the  relief  of  suffering  hu- 
manity. These  unprecedented  offerings 
came  from  givers  who  were  looking  for  no 
dividends  in  dollars.  And  they  came  at  a 
time  when  the  government  was  issuing  loan 
after  loan  (to  a  total  of  twenty-one  billions 
of  dollars)  and  was  pressing  its  claim  as  the 
first  to  be  considered;  and  also  at  a  time 
when  the  cost  of  living  was  rising  so  rapidly 
as  to  submerge  an  increasing  percentage  of 
the  population  day  by  day.  But  to  the  end 
of  the  war  there  was  no  cessation  in  the 
appeal  of  suffering  humanity  and  no  cessa- 
tion in  the  willing  response. 

But  not  merely  dollars  were  called  for. 
The  human  element,  after  all,  was  the  su- 
preme factor.  Noble  men  and  women  who 
could  not  respond  to  the  call  of  a  govern- 

20 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

ment  to  bear  arms  and  to  slay  their  fellow 
men  responded  joyously  to  the  call  of  hu- 
man suffering — the  call  of  the  Master  to 
help  those  who  were  in  peril  and  distress. 
They  could  not  take  the  lives  of  their  fellow 
men,  but  they  could  give  their  own  lives  in 
order  that  the  lives  of  their  fellows  might 
be  saved. 

The  giant  egoism  which  had  precipitated 
the  war  and  whose  cry  was  "  Kill "  was  giv- 
ing way  before  the  advancing  forces  of  al- 
truism, whose  prayer  was  " Save" 

In  the  Hearts  of  the  Nations 

The  war  has  taught  us,  as  has  nothing 
else,  how  the  spirit  of  Christianity  at  its 
best,  or,  let  us  say,  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  has 
permeated  the  hearts  even  of  the  nations. 
Admit  that  the  motive  of  Belgium  as  she 
bravely  withstood  the  armies  of  Germany 
was  primarily  that  of  saving  her  own 
honor.  Yet  England  sprang  to  Belgium's 
relief  not  primarily  for  the  sake  of  England, 
but  because  by  the  ruthless  violation  of  sa- 
cred treaties  the  little  nation  was  being  over- 
run and  was  in  danger  of  annihilation.  The 
future  of  civilization  was  at  stake. 

Of  course  there  is  no  possibility  of  ap- 
praising human  motives  with  absolute  accu- 

21 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

racy,  and  in  the  fabric  of  international  rela- 
tions there  are  a  thousand  twisted  threads. 
But,  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  motives 
which  impelled  European  nations  in  those 
portentous  early  years  of  the  war,  no  one 
will  contend  that  the  motive  of  America  was 
chiefly  one  of  self -protect  ion. 

America  entered  the  war  not  for  the  sake 
of  America,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  world. 
As  President  Wilson  said  at  Turin :  "  The 
people  of  the  United  States  were  reluctant 
to  take  part  in  the  war,  but  as  the  struggle 
grew  from  stage  to  stage,  they  were  more 
and  more  moved  by  the  conviction  that  it 
was  not  a  European  struggle ;  that  it  was  a 
struggle  for  the  freedom  of  the  world  and 
the  liberation  of  humanity.' '  And  again  at 
Paris :  "  The  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the 
United  States  have  given  the  best  that  was 
in  them  to  this  war  of  redemption/' 

Cardinal  Mercier's  word  to  America  was 
this :  "  The  only  reason  why  you  came  into 
the  war  and  saved  our  common  cause  was 
your  love  of  justice,  your  respect  of  truth, 
your  ardent  zeal  for  humanity."  And  the 
queen  of  the  Belgians,  asked  to  speak  a  final 
message  to  the  women  of  America,  replied : 
"  What  shall  I  say?  Tell  them  to  continue 
their  love."  There  it  is  in  a  single  word, 
"  love,"    that    divine    force    which    flows 

22 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

through  human  hearts  and  which  reveals  to 
those  who  are  whelmed  in  dark  despair  a 
heavenly  Father's  heart. 

So  the  Christian  motive  which  sent  forth 
the  early  disciples  from  Antioch  and  Jerusa- 
lem, which  looked  toward  the  liberation  of 
humanity  and  the  redemption  of  the  race, 
was  aflame  in  the  twentieth  century  as  it  had 
been  in  the  first. 

And  the  League  of  Nations  itself — what 
is  it,  in  the  last  analysis,  but  an  honest  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  leading  Christian  states- 
men of  the  world  to  protect  the  weaker  na- 
tions and  to  insure  them  freedom  and  safety 
in  their  long  heroic  struggle  toward  a  higher 
civilization  ? 

The  Christian  Motive  at  the  Heart  of 
Human  Institutions 

The  Red  Cross  had  been  organized  for 
the  relief  of  human  suffering  in  great  emer- 
gencies and  crises.  It  was  ready  to  enter 
once  more  on  its  mission  of  mercy  at  the 
opening  of  the  World  War.  When  our  own 
country  entered  the  war,  the  American  Red 
Cross  boldly  asked  the  American  people  for 
$100,000,000 — an  appeal  unprecedented  in 
the  history  of  relief  enterprises.  The  re- 
sponse  brought   $114,000,000.      A    second 

23 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

hundred  million  was  called  for,  and  $169,- 
000,000  was  pledged  by  43,000,000  sub- 
scribers. Altogether,  the  Red  Cross  raised 
more  than  $400,000,000,  and  today  has  a 
membership  of  more  than  20,000,000. 

But  money  was  the  least  of  it.  It  called 
upon  great  captains  of  industry  to  give  up 
their  business  and  to  invest  all  their  time 
and  all  their  energy  (without  money  com- 
pensation) for  the  relief  of  humanity 
through  the  Red  Cross.  Even  this  was  not 
the  largest  thing.  It  enlisted  vast  armies  of 
helpers  among  the  rank  and  file  of  human- 
ity, noble  physicians,  heroic  nurses,  and 
aides  in  every  field.  The  volunteers  went 
forward  to  certain  privation  and  peril  and 
to  possible  death.  But  this  was  not  all. 
Throughout  America,  women  of  whatever 
station  were  gathered  in  the  churches,  in  the 
assembly-rooms,  in  private  homes,  to  add 
their  invaluable  offering  of  labor  for  the 
sake  of  suffering  humanity.  The  Red  Cross 
had  6,374  workers  in  active  service  abroad 
on  the  day  when  the  armistice  was  signed, 
and  uncounted  millions  of  friends  and  sup- 
porters at  home. 

By  the  side  of  the  Red  Cross,  write  the 
name  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Here  was  an  or- 
ganization whose  mission  primarily  was  not 
the    physical,    but   chiefly    the   moral    and 

24- 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

spiritual  welfare  of  young  men.  It  saw  and 
seized  such  an  opportunity  for  reaching 
young  men  as  the  world  had  never  offered 
before.  Here  were  young  men  massed  by 
the  hundred  thousand,  far  from  home,  fac- 
ing death  day  by  day,  needing  God  and  will- 
ing to  think  of  him. 

It  was  the  supreme  opportunity  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Its  noble  ministry  was  appar- 
ent in  a  hundred  ways.  While  its  first  aim 
was  to  reach  the  moral  life  of  the  soldier,  it 
also  contributed  powerfully  to  his  physical 
welfare  and  his  social  instinct.  Had  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  been  spared  the  burden  of  the 
canteen,  which  was  naturally  not  a  part  of 
its  legitimate  business,  but  was  taken  on  at 
the  urgent  request  of  General  Pershing,^  it 
could  have  made  its  own  unique  and  legiti- 
mate work  more  telling  and  it  would  have 
escaped  much  of  the  criticism  (centering 
chiefly  in  the  canteen)  which  it  received. 

But  the  main  point  is  that  it  recognized 
in  the  situation  the  call  of  the  divine  Master, 
and  it  went  forth  to  minister  in  his  name, 
regardless  of  sacrifice,  even  of  the  supreme 
sacrifice  which  befell  some  of  its  workers. 
The  number  of  Y.  M.  C.  A.  workers  ac- 
cepted and  sent  to  Europe  was  11,229. 
President  Wilson,  Secretary  Lansing,  Lloyd- 
George,  Marshal  Foch,  and  many  another 

25 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

statesman  and  soldier  testified  to  the  in- 
valuable service  rendered  the  allied  armies 
by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

What  the  Protestant  churches  were  doing 
through  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church  was  doing  through  the  K.  of  C. 
Naturally,  there  were  differences  between 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  huts  and  the  K.  of  C.  huts 
both  in  theory  and  in  form  of  administra- 
tion, but  both  organizations  were  working 
toward  one  great  end.  The  K.  of  C.  sent 
1,075  workers  overseas. 

In  a  survey  of  this  kind,  the  Salvation 
Army  must  not  be  overlooked.  Its  repre- 
sentatives were  no  less  efficient  than  those 
of  the  larger  organizations,  its  purposes  no 
less  sincere,  and  its  devotion  no  less  heroic. 
It  put  upward  of  three  million  dollars  into 
its  war  work. 

The  names  of  countless  smaller  organiza- 
tions, associations,  committees,  etc.,  should 
be  added  to  these.  Yet  again  the  generous 
and  efficient  aid  of  private  citizens  and 
groups  of  citizens  who  provided  hospitals, 
ambulances,  and  equipment  of  all  kinds 
must  not  be  overlooked.  No  statistics  can 
ever  represent  the  total  of  the  vast  philan- 
thropies of  the  war.  But  none  can  doubt 
that  the  large  proportion  of  these  gifts  and 
of  this  consecration  sprang  from  the  love  of 

26 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

Christ  and  the  desire  to  do  his  will.  The 
conscious  recognition  of  his  commission  and 
the  consciousness  of  his  presence  and  bless- 
ing were  the  forces  which  kept  faith  alive 
through  the  darkest  days  of  the  war. 

Many  a  near-sighted  journalist  and  novel- 
ist of  today  is  declaring  Christianity  to  be  a 
failure.  But  by  its  fruits  shall  it  be  known 
when  that  narrow-visioned  verdict  has  long 
been  forgotten. 

The  War  and  the  Foreign  Missionary 

To  return  to  the  common  conception  of 
missions,  what  effect  had  all  this  period  of 
world  chaos  upon  the  foreign  missionary 
enterprise?  While  the  World  War  was 
sucking  into  its  own  maelstrom  the  young 
manhood  of  all  nations,  when  the  calls  for 
funds  to  support  the  government  and  the 
armies  and  the  navies  were  constant  and  ir- 
resistible, when  the  minds  of  men  every- 
where were  absorbed  in  the  thought  only  of 
war,  when  the  enemies  of  Christ  were  shout- 
ing, "  The  church  is  a  spent  force  or  it 
would  have  prevented  the  war,"  when  a 
good  many  Christians  even  were  doubting 
whether  God  was  still  in  heaven,  what  about 
the  foreign  field? 

Of  course,  it  would  be  natural  to  suppose 

27 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

that  all  these  opposing  influences  would 
check  the  so-called  missionary  movements 
of  Christianity  and  that  missionary  contri- 
butions would  steadily  decline.  Moreover, 
in  the  rapidly  advancing  cost  of  living,  al- 
most every  family  was  facing  a  serious 
hand-to-mouth  problem  of  its  own.  One 
cannot  wonder  that  the  missionary  societies 
looked  forward  with  grave  apprehension  as 
nation  after  nation  was  dragged  into  the 
war. 

What  was  the  sequel?  Volunteers  for 
missionary  service  were  not  lacking ;  neither 
were  funds  for  their  support.  At  the  time 
of  the  Boxer  uprising  in  1900,  when  many 
missionaries  were  murdered,  it  was  feared 
that  the  effect  upon  intending  missionaries, 
especially  those  who  were  looking  toward 
China,  would  be  disastrous.  But  such  fears 
were  unfounded.  The  men  and  the  women 
came  in  increasing  numbers  to  fill  the  gaps 
in  the  ranks.  So  was  it  now  when  the  war 
was  thrusting  new  problems  and  perils  on 
the  world's  missionary  fields. 

Thus  the  total  number  of  foreign  mis- 
sionaries of  all  denominations  sailing  from 
America  in  1913  was  620;  in  1914,  it  was 
531;  in  1915,  609;  in  1916,  772;  in  1917, 
661 ;  in  1 9 18,  670.  In  fairness  it  should  be 
said  that  if  we  go  back  to  191 1  and  19 12,  we 

28 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

find  somewhat  larger  totals,  but  these 
figures,  covering  the  period  of  the  war,  show 
a  wonderful  steadiness. 

And  when  we  come  to  the  missionary 
gifts  of  the  churches,  the  figures  are  still 
more  remarkable.  Beginning  with  191 5,  the 
income  of  the  American  Board  advanced 
steadily  year  by  year.  In  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  the  income  of  the  foreign 
board  in  19 18  was  nearly  fifty  per  cent  be- 
yond that  of  191 5.  In  the  Presbyterian 
boards,  both  North  and  South,  there  was 
an  advance  each  year.  In  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  board  there  was  in  19 16  a  marked 
advance  over  1915;  a  slight  drop  in  191 7; 
but  a  quick  recovery  in  19 18.  In  our  own 
Northern  board,  there  was  an  advance  in 
1916  over  1915;  a  drop  in  1917  and  1918. 
Yet  in  spite  of  this  decline  the  totals  of  19 18 
exceeded  those  of  191 5.  In  the  Southern 
board  there  was  a  steady  advance  through 
the  four  years,  the  gifts  of  19 18  being 
nearly  one  hundred  per  cent  in  advance  of 
those  of  1915. 

Thus  the  figures  show,  as  far  as  figures 
can  show  anything,  that  while  men  were 
making  such  sacrifices  as  never  before  for 
the  sake  of  winning  the  war,  the  missionary 
impulse  which  reached  out  to  heathen  na- 
tions was  not  languishing,  rather  growing 

29 


Tlie  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

all  the  time.  Thus  war  was  opening  the 
eyes  of  the  Christian  world.  It  was  coming 
to  see  that  while  the  present  war  for  the 
freedom  of  the  race  must  be  waged  with  all 
vigor  on  one  hand,  the  great  deterrent  of 
future  wars  must  be  promoted  with  equal 
vigor  on  the  other  hand. 

It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  note 
that  wars  have  never  seemed  to  slay  the 
missionary  zeal  of  the  Christian  church. 
The  Church  of  England's  great  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts  was  founded  in  1701,  when  England 
was  at  war  with  France.  Most  of  the  great 
missionary  societies  were  formed  in  the 
period  from  1790  to  181 5 — a  period  of  the 
devastating  Napoleonic  wars.  The  period 
of  the  Crimean  war  marked  the  advance  of 
all  the  principal  missionary  societies.  Much 
the  same  thing  was  true  during  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war.  So  the  conclusion  that  war 
in  our  time  has  not  dulled  the  missionary 
motive  or  crushed  the  missionary  enterprise 
would  seem  to  be  confirmed  by  two  centu- 
ries of  history. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  World  War  has 
furnished  us  the  mightiest  argument  for  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  all  nations.  For 
we  have  seen  as  never  before  how  futile  is 
diplomacy  and  how  powerful  is  love.    The 

30 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

cure  for  future  wars  is  a  far-flung  line  of 
human  brotherhood.  There  is  no  text- 
book to  teach  it  like  the  gospel  of  Jesus. 
Better  are  friendships  than  battleships. 
Stronger  the  nailed  hand  than  the  mailed 
hand.  Mightier  the  sword  of  the  Spirit 
than  the  sword  of  steel.  "  For  the  preserva- 
tion of  peace,  one  missionary  is  worth  a 
battalion  of  soldiers,"  said  Sir  Charles  War- 
ren, governor  of  Natal. 

Some  Fruits  of  the  Missionary  Motive 
at  Work  in  the  World  War 

i.  An  incalculable  amount  of  human  suf- 
fering has  been  alleviated  on  the  battlefield, 
in  the  hospitals,  and  in  the  homes  devastated 
or  bereaved  by  the  war. 

2.  Many  have  been  brought  to  Christ 
whom  the  gospel  had  never  reached  with 
vital  force  until  the  tragedy  of  war  had 
opened  blind  eyes  and  disclosed  the  deep 
needs  of  the  soul. 

3.  War  has  revealed  the  fact  that  the 
Christian  church  is  not  dead,  as  many  have 
charged,  but  that  life  within,  sluggish 
though  it  may  be,  is  yet  capable  of  being 
stirred  by  a  new  and  urgent  call  on  the  lips 
of  a  stricken  and  bleeding  world. 

4.  War  has  also  revealed  the  fact  that 

3i 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

many  agencies  beyond  the  bounds  of  the 
Christian  church  are  yet  filled  with  the 
Master's  spirit  and  are  doing  his  will. 

5.  The  pressure  of  a  great  crisis  has 
brought  the  churches  of  many  faiths  into 
close  union,  has  led  to  a  reappraisal  of  the 
essentials  of  Christ's  religion,  to  a  readjust- 
ment of  emphasis  as  between  dogmatic 
creeds  and  a  vital  union  with  Christ,  and  to 
a  realignment  of  Christian  forces  in  view  of 
the  urgent  demands  of  the  new  day. 

6.  Out  of  all  the  horror  and  passion  of  a 
World  War,  the  missionary  motive  has 
emerged,  not  wounded  unto  death  and  not 
disheartened,  but  stronger  than  ever  and 
more  convinced  of  the  coming  of  a  day 
when  the  Spirit  of  Christ  shall  rule  the 
spirits  of  men. 

7.  Finally,  the  fact  that  this  war  was  a 
World  War  should  prove  a  trumpet  call  to 
the  Christian  church  in  every  land — espe- 
cially for  us  in  America,  since  America,  if 
any  nation,  is  Christian;  since  America  has 
come  to  hold  the  eye  of  the  world  as  never 
before;  since  America  stands  preeminently 
for  that  democracy  which  is  another  name 
for  human  brotherhood. 

The  world  is  sick  of  war.  In  the  wake  of 
the  most  terrible  war  in  history,  a  war 
which   destroyed    more   than   nine   million 

32 


The  Missionary  Motive  in  the  World  War 

human  lives  and  which  wasted  more  money 
than  all  previous  wars  since  the  beginning 
of  time,  a  war  which  the  wisest  diplomats  of 
the  nations  were  powerless  to  prevent  or  to 
postpone,  it  is  time  for  men  to  recognize 
the  fact  that  the  conquering  force  in  this 
universe,  and  indeed  the  only  hope  of  hu- 
manity, is  Love,  as  taught  and  as  revealed 
by  the  Man  of  Nazareth ;  and  that  his  repre- 
sentatives, in  whatever  land,  are  the 
prophets  and  the  heralds  of  the  new  day 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness — and  there- 
fore peace. 


33 


Ill 

SOME  CONTRIBUTIONS  OF 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

IN  WAR-TIME 

PART  I 

By  JAMES  H.  FRANKLIN 


SOME  CONTRIBUTIONS  OF 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

IN  WAR-TIME 


Four  years  before  the  first  convulsions  in 
the  World  War  were  felt  by  humanity,  rep- 
resentatives of  many  races  had  assembled, 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  in  the  fa- 
mous Edinburgh  Missionary  Conference. 
Plans  of  unprecedented  magnitude  for  co- 
operation in  the  evangelization  of  the  world 
were  conceived  in  that  notable  gathering, 
and  ah  international  and  interdenomina- 
tional continuation  committee  was  formed 
to  put  into  effect  the  ideals  of  the  confer- 
ence. That  committee  sent  its  chairman, 
Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  around  the  world  to  hold 
series  of  conferences  in  Asia,  whose  findings 
registered  the  conviction  of  the  most  repre- 
sentative bodies  of  missionaries  and  native 
Christian  leaders  ever  assembled.  Every- 
where in  those  gatherings  there  was  the 
same  yearning  expressed  for  a  closer  fellow- 
ship in  service  on  the  part  of  all  evangelical 
bodies,  without  the  sacrifice  of  a  single 
sacred  conviction  on  the  part  of  any. 

37 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

In  November,  191 3,  the  continuation 
committee  of  the  Edinburgh  Conference 
met  at  The  Hague  to  hear  the  inspiring  story 
of  a  readiness  on  the  part  of  Christian 
forces  in  many  lands,  as  evidenced  in  the 
numerous  conferences  in  Asia,  to  touch 
hearts  more  closely  and  clasp  hands  more 
tightly  in  a  forward  movement  for  Christ 
and  his  kingdom.  Another  meeting  of  the 
committee  was  called  for  the  early  autumn 
of  1914,  at  Oxford,  England,  as  the  guests 
of  the  well-known  Baptist  layman,  Sir 
George  W.  MacAlpine,  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  still  more  definite  consideration  to 
practical  cooperative  plans  for  a  large  ex- 
pansion of  missionary  activity.  Some  of 
the  members  were  on  their  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic  when  the  outbreak  of  war  not  only 
prevented  the  meeting  of  the  committee,  but 
interfered  as  well  with  the  execution  of 
practical  plans  that  had  already  been  formu- 
lated and  adopted. 

Some  of  the  immediate  effects  of  the 
war  on  Christian  missionary  plans  are  well 
known.  Entire  missions  were  wiped  out  in 
Turkey,  Armenia,  Persia,  India,  China,  and 
Africa.  The  forces  of  nearly  all  the  socie- 
ties were  depleted.  Many  volunteers  for 
missionary  service  rushed  to  France. 
Boards  hesitated,  too,  to  appoint  men  of 

38 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War-Time 

military  age,  even  if  any  volunteered,  who 
could  not  give  a  good  reason  for  not  being 
at  the  front.  Plans  for  the  development  of 
the  work  were  held  in  abeyance.  For  a 
time,  at  least,  questions  were  raised  as  to  the 
sufficiency  of  Christianity  to  save  the  world 
from  a  selfishness  which  was  responsible  for 
the  cataclysm.  The  financial  cost  of  mis- 
sionary movements  increased  rapidly,  and 
it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  same  volume 
of  work  by  the  societies  of  England, 
Canada,  and  the  United  States  required  an- 
nually several  millions  of  dollars  more  than 
was  needed  before  the  war.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  fairly  accurate  survey  of  the 
principal  apparent  effects  of  the  war  on 
Christian  missions,  but  it  is  a  far  different 
matter  to  attempt  a  comprehensive  state- 
ment of  the  contributions  of  missionary 
agencies  during  war  times,  when  the  world's 
thought  was  centered  on  the  conflict  and  lit- 
tle was  done  to  keep  a  record  of  the  helpful 
activities  of  such  organizations  in  their 
work  outside  of  their  usual  province.  More- 
over, it  is  never  easy  to  tabulate  results 
which  are  chiefly  moral  and  spiritual.  Even 
yet  it  seems  possible  merely  to  point  to  in- 
stances of  unusual  service  here  and  there, 
which  may  be  taken  as  illustrations  of  more 
or  less  common  forms  of  activity  on  the  part 

39 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

of  missionary  forces  in  many  lands  during 
the  period  of  the  war. 

Probably  the  first  visible  contribution  was 
made  by  the  foreign  mission  societies  when 
men  and  women  who  were  expected  to  sail 
soon  for  the  Orient  or  Africa  asked  to  be 
excused  from  missionary  service  until  they 
could  do  their  bit  in  France,  and  when  those 
already  on  the  field  felt  the  tug  at  their 
hearts  and  suggested  that  they  might  be 
spared  for  service  at  the  front.  This  was 
especially  true  of  physicians  and  surgeons. 
In  China,  for  instance,  the  force  of  medical 
missionaries  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  only 
seven-tenths  as  large  as  it  was  at  the  begin- 
ning, while  very  few  new  doctors  sailed  for 
the  Orient  after  their  own  country  entered 
the  conflict.  Over  four  hundred  American 
missionaries  served  as  chaplains,  or  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  workers,  or  as  doctors  and  nurses,  or 
undertook  Red  Cross  work  in  France,  Ar- 
menia, Czecho-Slovakia,  Egypt,  India,  Rus- 
sia, Siberia,  Palestine,  Servia,  Syria,  and 
Turkey.  Fully  five  hundred  British  mis- 
sionaries undertook  war  work  of  some  sort. 
A  few  went  into  the  trenches.  Some  served 
as  interpreters  and  friends  among  the  large 
labor  battalions  of  East  Indians  and  Chinese 
at  work  behind  the  lines  in  France.  The 
first  missionary  to  lose  his  life  in  service 

40 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War-Time 

with  the  labor  battalions  in  France,  if  not 
indeed  the  first  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary  to  be 
killed  by  shell  fire  in  that  country,  was  Rev. 
Robert  Wellwood,  for  many  years  under  ap- 
pointment by  the  American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society,  and  stationed  at  Ning- 
yuanfu,  West  China.  Groups  of  Chinese 
Christian  boys,  graduates  of  mission 
schools,  were  sent  to  France  to  do  the  same 
kind  of  work  with  the  labor  battalions  as 
that  to  which  some  of  the  missionaries  were 
giving  themselves.  Graduates  of  mission 
schools  who  were  studying  in  American  uni- 
versities and  theological  seminaries  sought 
and  secured  opportunity  for  similar  service. 
From  the  small  Paris  Missionary  Society 
thirty-five  foreign  missionaries  undertook 
war  service  in  France,  fourteen  of  that 
number  being  sent  into  the  trenches.  The 
record  of  the  Roman  Catholic  socie'ties  also 
is  impressive.  Very  many  of  their  mis- 
sionaries returned  quickly  from  distant 
parts  of  the  earth  to  serve  the  cause  in 
France  as  soldiers  or  chaplains,  or  in  other 
ways.  The  report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Canada  for  the  year  19 18  contained  this 
striking  sentence :  "  In  response  to  the  call 
of  the  empire  for  medical  men  to  go  with 
the  Chinese  labor  battalions  to  France,  all 

4i 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

the  medical  men  on  the  field  enlisted,  thus 
closing  all  hospitals." 

Christian  missionaries  rendered  signifi- 
cant service  in  many  parts  of  the  world  in 
helping  the  less-informed  people  to  under- 
stand more  clearly  the  moral  aims  of  the 
Allies.  As  preachers  of  love  and  good  will 
and  brotherhood,  they  had  already  im- 
pressed multitudes  with  their  purpose  to  up- 
hold righteousness  and  justice,  and  when 
they  were  known  to  stand  unqualifiedly  for 
the  cause  for  which  the  Allies  were  fighting, 
many  in  China,  India,  Africa,  and  other 
parts  of  the  world  were  given  fresh  assur- 
ance of  the  righteousness  of  our  aims. 

The  influence  of  American  missionaries 
in  China,  about  the  time  when  the  Chinese 
government  made  a  declaration  of  war  on 
Germany,  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  For 
three  years  the  masses  of  the  Chinese  peo- 
ple had  been  said  to  be  pro-German  in  their 
sympathies,  which  was  not  strange  in  the 
light  of  historic  events.  In  the  ranks  of  the 
Allies  were  several  of  China's  traditional 
opponents.  China's  feeling  toward  Japan  is 
too  well  known  to  require  comment.  Just 
before  the  war  began  Russia  appeared  to  be 
threatening  an  invasion  of  northwestern 
China.  The  British  and  French  flags  were 
planted  on  Chinese  soil.     It  was  not  easy, 

42 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War -Time 

therefore,  for  the  Chinese  people  to  throw 
themselves  into  cooperation  with  those 
powers  for  whom  the  people  had  not  enter- 
tained the  most  friendly  feelings.  In  thosef 
days  the  American  missionaries  in  some  sec- 
tions could  hardly  leave  their  houses  with- 
out being  questioned  by  the  Chinese  people 
as  to  the  principles  involved  in  the  war. 
Public  meetings  were  held  in  which  the  mis- 
sionaries, as  well  as  thoughtful  Chinese 
leaders,  expounded  to  the  masses  the  issues 
involved.  In  many  sections  the  fact  that  the 
American  missionaries  could  explain  so 
clearly  why  their  country  had  gone  to  war 
with  Germany  did  much  to  overcome  the 
pro-German  feeling  on  the  part  of  unin- 
formed Chinese  and  to  lead  them  to  uphold 
their  government  in  its  declaration  of  war. 
Such  influence  on  the  part  of  American  mis- 
sionaries was  the  result  of  the  accumulated 
good  will  of  the  Chinese  people.  Mr.  Ju- 
lian H.  Arnold,  who  was  about  that  time 
commercial  attache  to  the  American  lega- 
tion in  China,  said : 

"  There  is  one  asset  which  Americans 
hold  in  China,  the  equal  to  which  is  not  to 
be  found  in  any  other  foreign  country  in 
the  world.  This  is  the  good  will  of  the 
Chinese  people.  I  have  traveled  extensively 
all  over  this  vast  country  and  have  found 

43 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

that  no  other  people  on  the  face  of  this  earth 
occupy  a  warmer  place  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Chinese  people  than  do  the  Americans.  Our 
2,500  missionary  population  in  China  is 
partially  responsible  for  this  great  asset,  for 
with  their  numerous  schools,  hospitals, 
chapels,  and  other  uplifting  institutions  (all 
non-political  in  character),  they  are  creat- 
ing for  us  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  this  vast  country,  in  sections  far 
removed  from  treaty  port  influences,  as  well 
as  in  the  commercial  centers,  a  spirit  of 
friendship,  which  means  much  to  us." 

A  few  months  before  America  entered  the 
war,  Mr.  J.  Wellington  Koo,  minister  of  the 
Chinese  Republic  to  the  United  States,  made 
the  following  deliverance  in  an  address  at 
the  University  of  Chicago : 

"  I  have  outlined  the  work  of  American 
missionaries  at  some  length  in  order  to  show 
the  broad  scope  of  their  activities  and  the 
utter  unselfishness  of  their  purposes.  Some 
of  them  devote  five  or  ten  years  to  China, 
while  others  spend  their  whole  lives  there. 
But  whether  for  a  longer  or  a  shorter 
period,  they  all  do  it  with  a  desire  to  do  good 
and  without  hope  of  gain  to  themselves,  be- 
yond the  gain  of  satisfaction  in  service  ren- 
dered and  duty  done.  These  men  penetrate 
the  inland  parts  of  the  country,  mingle  with 

44 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War -Time 

the  people,  and  live  as  members  of  the  local 
community.  Neither  hardships  nor  difficul- 
ties deter  them.  In  the  last  half  century 
troubles  sometimes  arose  between  them  and 
the  local  people,  but  they  were  always  peace- 
ably settled — settled  without  the  dispatching 
of  a  naval  or  military  expedition  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  and  without  loss  of 
political  or  territorial  rights  on  the  part  of 
China.  So  by  contrast  and  comparison  the 
people  of  China  have  long  come  to  recognize 
the  difference  between  the  missionaries  from 
the  United  States  and  those  from  certain 
other  countries,  and  for  this  reason  they 
have  manifested  all  the  more  readiness  to 
receive  and  welcome  them  with  open  arms. 
Nothing  which  individual  Americans  have 
done  in  China  has  more  strongly  impressed 
Chinese  minds  with  the  sincerity,  the 
genuineness,  the  altruism  of  American 
friendship  for  China  than  this  spirit  of  ser- 
vice and  sacrifice  so  beautifully  demon- 
strated by  American  missionaries/' 

During  the  war  the  British  secretary  of 
state  for  India  requested  that  large  numbers 
of  Indian  laborers  be  secured  immediately 
for  work  behind  the  lines  in  France.  The 
provinces  of  Bahar  and  Orissa  were  asked 
to  recruit  about  eight  thousand  laborers, 
and  inasmuch  as  the  Santals  and  other  tribes 

45 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

in  that  vicinity  had  shown  themselves  to  be 
reliable  in  the  tea  gardens  of  Assam,  the 
coal-fields  of  Bengal,  and  on  the  railways, 
the  recruiting  was  limited  almost  entirely  to 
them.  As  soon  as  the  plan  was  made  public, 
absurd  rumors  were  circulated  and  panic 
prevailed  in  the  country  at  large.  The  male 
population  fled  to  the  hills.  The  missiona- 
ries were  requested  to  recruit  companies  of 
men  from  the  Christian  constituency,  but  it 
soon  became  apparent  that  if  they  confined 
their  efforts  in  that  direction  none  but  Chris- 
tians would  be  enrolled  and  these  in  insuffi- 
cient numbers  to  meet  the  situation.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Christians  themselves  were 
sent  into  the  hills  and  jungles  to  explain  the 
situation  to  the  non-Christian  Santals  and 
to  induce  them  to  come  to  the  recruiting  sta- 
tions. It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  per- 
suade the  non-Christian  Santals,  for  among 
such  a  superstitious  people  ludicrous  rumors 
were  spread.  One  rumor  was  to  the  effect 
that  the  Santals  were  to  be  made  to  fight  or 
to  be  used  as  shields  for  the  troops  against 
the  German  bullets.  There  was  another  ru- 
mor to  the  effect  that  the  government 
wished  to  bring  together  a  large  number  and 
sacrifice  them  to  the  evil  spirits  as  a  propi- 
tiatory offering  for  victory.  Still  another 
rumor    was    that   the    government    would 

46 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War-Time 

drown  all  the  men  who  were  recruited  so 
that  when  the  Germans  reached  India  (the 
Germans  were  then  reported  to  be  moving  in 
that  direction)  they  would  find  a  deserted 
country  and  would  retreat.  When  the  Chris- 
tians were  assured  that  some  of  their  own 
missionaries  would  accompany  them  to 
France  to  look  after  them  and  their  inter- 
ests, they  unhesitatingly  enrolled  themselves 
and  were  able  to  persuade  the  non-Chris- 
tians that  the  government  offer  was  bona 
fide.  In  such  fashion  four  thousand  men 
were  enrolled  in  that  part  of  India  for  work 
in  France. 

Possibly  no  better  illustration  of  the  bene- 
fit of  the  work  of  missionaries  with  the  la- 
bor battalions  in  France  can  be  found  than 
in  the  story  of  two  hundred  boys  who  went 
from  the  field  of  the  Baptist  missions  in  the 
Naga  Hills  of  Assam.  Of  these  two  hun- 
dred, forty  were  Christians  before  they  left 
home.  When  they  sailed  from  France  every 
man  in  the  company  was  a  Christian,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  having  accepted  Christ 
while  away  from  home.  On  the  first  Sun- 
day after  they  returned  to  the  Naga  Hills 
the  two  hundred  boys  went  in  a  body  to  the 
Baptist  chapel  and  made  a  thank-offering 
of  twenty  rupees  each,  amounting  to  almost 
a  month's  wages.    There  is  also  the  story  of 

47 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

five  hundred  Garo  laborers  who,  while  re- 
turning from  France,  took  up  a  collection 
aboard  ship  to  send  one  of  their  own  num- 
ber as  a  missionary  to  the  head-hunters  in 
Assam.  Dr.  J.  R.  Bailey  and  Rev.  William 
Pettigrew,  of  our  own  mission  in  Assam, 
rendered  notable  service  among  the  thou- 
sands recruited  from  the  Naga  tribes  for 
work  in  France. 

Even  in  Central  Africa  the  primitive  peo- 
ples were  led  to  understand  some  of  the 
principles  involved.  Their  hearts  were  sad- 
dened too  at  the  story  of  the  invasion  of 
Belgium  and  the  consequent  suffering  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  and,  although  many  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Congo  had  reason  to 
nurse  their  grievance  of  years  ago,  they  laid 
aside  their  memories  of  the  policy  of  the  late 
King  Leopold  of  Belgium,  whose  unwilling 
subjects  they  had  been,  and  in  some  sections 
under  the  leadership  of  the  missionaries 
they  made  substantial  contributions  for  re- 
lief work  among  the  stricken  Belgians.  It 
is  universally  recognized  that  under  the 
reign  of  King  Albert,  who  visited  Central 
Africa  just  before  he  ascended  the  throne, 
a  new  day  has  dawned  in  Belgian  Congo. 


48 


IV 

SOME  CONTRIBUTIONS  OF 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

IN  WAR-TIME 

PART  II 

r 

By  JAMES  H.  FRANKLIN 


SOME  CONTRIBUTIONS  OF 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

IN  WAR-TIME 


The  record  of  Red  Cross  service  on  the 
part  of  missionary  doctors  and  nurses  dur- 
ing the  war  is  one  of  splendid  heroism.  In 
all  mission  lands  where  the  war  was  actually 
waged  the  missionary  hospitals  were  filled 
with  the  wounded,  if  the  institutions  were 
not  destroyed  or  occupied  by  the  enemy.  A 
large  volume  would  be  required  to  tell  that 
inspiring  story.  Only  two  or  three  ex- 
amples can  be  cited  here. 

When  the  Turkish  armies  moved  across 
Mesopotamia  and  occupied  Busrah  at  the 
head  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  two  American 
missionaries,  Dr.  Arthur  K.  Bennett  and  his 
wife,  Dr.  Christine  Iverson  Bennett,  of  the 
Arabian  Mission,  threw  open  their  hospital 
and  treated  large  numbers  of  wounded 
Turkish  soldiers.  That  occurred  before 
America  entered  the  war.  When  the  Eng- 
lish drove  the  Turks  north,  the  same  hospi- 
tal was  filled  to  overflowing  with  wounded 

5i 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

British  soldiers.  Dr.  Christine  Iverson  Ben- 
nett, exhausted  from  her  labors  for  the 
soldiers,  passed  away  at  a  time  when  the 
outlook  was  darkest  for  the  British  troops 
in  their  campaign  in  Mesopotamia,  but  the 
leading  persons  in  charge  of  the  expedition 
in  soldierly  appreciation  of  her  work  turned 
aside  from  their  direction  of  the  campaign 
long  enough  to  join  the  mission  body  and 
others  in  the  funeral  service. 

From  our  own  South  China  Mission  four 
men  volunteered  at  the  same  time  for  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  and  Red  Cross  work  among  the  troops 
in  Siberia.  Dr.  Henry  W.  Newman  was 
sent  nearly  five  miles  west  of  Vladivostok, 
where,  with  very  limited  assistance  he  or- 
ganized hospitals  and  rendered  significant 
service  among  the  Russians  and  the  Czecho- 
slovaks. After  a  Red  Cross  commissioner 
from  America  had  visited  Doctor  New- 
man's typhus  hospital  with  its  four  hundred 
and  fifty  beds,  he  wrote :  "  In  all  the  story  of 
Red  Cross  achievement  in  Siberia,  there  will 
be  no  greater  credit  due  any  individual  than 
that  due  Doctor  Newman  for  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  his  antityphus  work  at 
Cheliabinsk  and  Petropavlosk.  Almost  with- 
out American  aid,  Doctor  Newman  cleaned 
out  a  factory  building  and  installed  an  effi- 
cient typhus  hospital  and  later  built  up  a  hos- 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War-Time 

pital  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  beds  at  Pe- 
tropavlosk,  where,  under  his  direction,  the 
mortality  rate  was  cut  down  by  about  two- 
thirds."  When  Doctor  Newman  was  taken 
ill  with  typhus  and  was  borne  on  a  stretcher 
to  escape  from  the  approaching  army  of 
Bolsheviki,  he  had  organized  and  was  con- 
ducting an  evacuation  army  hospital  with 
fifteen  hundred  beds  far  in  the  interior  of 
Russia. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  American 
Presbyterian  mission  working  in  Beirut,  the 
Lebanon,  Tripoli,  and  Sidon,  with  a  staff  of 
thirty-eight  foreign  missionaries,  suffered 
much  in  common  with  other  missionary 
agencies,  although  America  was  not  at  that 
time  at  war  with  the  Turkish  Empire.  Two 
of  the  American  missionaries  were  de- 
ported and  imprisoned  because  their  relief 
work  was  distasteful  to  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment. Many  of  the  mission  buildings  were 
used  for  Red  Cross  work,  the  missionaries 
themselves  rendering  unsparing  service. 
The  printing-house  at  Beirut  was  turned 
into  a  banking  establishment  and  handled 
the  large  sums  sent  through  the  Mission 
Board  in  America  for  relief  work  among  the 
Syrians.  In  the  Lebanon  wheat  was  sold  at 
twenty  times  its  usual  price,  such  diseases  as 
typhus  and  malaria  were  prevalent,  and  al- 

53 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

most  no  supplies  of  clothing  could  be  pro- 
cured. 

In  western  Persia,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  eighteen  Presbyterian  missionaries 
were  stationed  at  Urumia.  During  the  first 
year  of  the  conflict  Russian  troops  twice 
took  possession  of  that  region,  but  for  five 
months  the  Turks  ruled  the  land,  and  "  the 
missionaries  alone  stood  between  twenty- 
five  thousand  Christians  and  death  by  mas- 
sacre, starvation  and  disease."  "With 
heroic  endurance  they  sheltered  thousands 
in  their  compound,  distributed  tons  of  bread 
daily  to  the  starving  people,  fought  the 
ravages  of  disease,  and  rescued  thousands 
from  destruction."  One  of  the  tragic  re- 
sults of  the  war  was  the  death  of  the 
veteran  missionary,  Dr.  W.  A.  Shedd,  who, 
following  like  a  faithful  shepherd  a  body  of 
eighty  thousand  Syrian  Christians  fleeing 
southward  over  the  mountains  to  Hamadan, 
fell  a  victim  to  cholera  in  July.  Of  the^. 
eighteen  missionaries  at  Urumia  thirteen 
were  down  at  one  time  with  typhus  fever. 
Several  died  at  that  time  and  others  after- 
ward from  the  effects  of  overstrain. 

Early  in  191 5  a  stalwart  American  jour- 
neyed from  Aintab  to  Constantinople  to  as- 
sure the  Turkish  Government  of  the  entire 
loyalty  of  the  Armenians  in  the  province  of 

54 


Contributions  of  Missions  in   War-Time 

Aleppo,  where  so  many  atrocities  had  been 
committed  and  to  intercede  in  their  behalf. 
This  American  was  Dr.  Fred  Douglas  Shep- 
ard, who,  as  a  medical  missionary  of  the 
American  Congregational  Board  for  nearly 
a  third  of  a  century  had  done  a  great  deal 
to  relieve  suffering  among  the  Armenians. 
Many  had  come  almost  to  worship  him. 
But  this  assurance  of  their  loyalty  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  was  of  no  avail,  and 
the  atrocities  continued.  During-  much  of 
this  trying  period  Doctor  Shepard  remained 
near  Constantinople  in  charge  of  a  Red 
Cross  division  of  a  hospital,  where  large 
numbers  of  wounded  Turkish  soldiers  from 
Galliopoli  were  given  treatment.  The  Hon. 
Henry  Morgenthau,  former  ambassador  of 
the  United  States  to  Turkey,  has  paid  high 
tribute  to  the  work  of  Doctor  Shepard.  Mr. 
Morgantheau,  who  had  abundant  opportu- 
nity to  study  the  work  of  missionaries  in  the 
Turkish  Empire  during  the  days  of  such  ter- 
rible suffering  on  the  part  of  the  Armenians, 
has  said : 

"  I  have  never  met — and  I  have  met  many 
people  in  my  life-^a  finer  set  of  men  and 
women  than  the  missionaries  in  Turkey. 
They  did  things  which  if  it  were  all  known 
would  make  them  saints  in  the  eyes  of  the 
community.     They  stood  by  their   flocks. 

55 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

When  I  was  instructed  by  the  State  Depart- 
ment to  tell  them  to  leave,  they  refused  to 
leave.  They  said,  '  We  are  going  to  stand 
by  whether  it  causes  our  death  or  not.'  The 
amount  of  heroism  that  was  displayed,  the 
amount  of  martyrdom  to  which  some  of 
them  submitted,  ought  to  be  an  encouraging 
lesson  to  us  all." 

The  activity  of  the  American  Committee 
for  Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief  is  known  to 
almost  every  one.  It  is  not  so  generally 
known,  however,  that  this  relief  work  had 
its  inspiration  in  missionary  circles.  In  the 
autumn  of  19 14  Dr.  Fred  Douglas  Shepard 
and  other  representatives  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions (Congregational)  wrote  that  they 
could  hardly  face  the  terrible  conditions 
longer  unless  some  way  were  found  to  give 
relief  to  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  starv- 
ing people  in  their  communities.  The  for- 
eign secretary  of  the  Congregational  Board, 
Dr.  James  L.  Barton,  brought  the  situation 
to  the  attention  of  a  few  friends  in  America. 
Over  thirty  million  dollars  has  passed 
through  the  hands  of  the  committee  which 
was  organized  by  Doctor  Barton  in  19 14, 
and  twenty  million  dollars  additional  will 
be  required  this  year.  When  the  armistice 
made  it  possible  for  a  commission  to  pro- 

56 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War-Time 

ceed  to  Armenia  and  Syria,  Secretary  Bar- 
ton and  several  other  distinguished  citizens 
of  America  secured  permission  from  our 
State  Department  at  Washington  for  mis- 
sionaries from  Turkey  to  return  as  soon  as 
possible.  Shortly  after  the  armistice  was 
signed  the  commission,  headed  by  Secretary 
Barton,  started  for  Turkey,  supported  by 
the  great  majority  of  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  missionaries  who  had  been  de- 
tained in  this  country  and  were  returning  to 
assist  in  the  distribution  of  food  among  the 
Armenians  and  others  in  the  Near  East. 

It  is  significant  that  Lord  Bryce,  former 
British  ambassador  to  the  United  States,  is 
reported  to  have  said,  after  his  visit  to  the 
Near  East,  that  the  only  international  influ- 
ence which  has  ever  helped  Turkey  has  been 
American  teachers  and  missionaries.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Congregational 
Board  had  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  mis- 
sionaries in  Turkey.  In  1918  only  thirty-six 
had  been  able  to  remain  at  their  posts.  At 
six  of  the  fourteen  centers  single  women 
held  the  fort  alone.  Twenty  missionaries 
had  died  in  the  country  under  the  strain  to 
which  they  were  subjected. 

Nothing  is  more  important  than  morale 
in  the  successful  conduct  of  a  war,  and 
thoughtful  Americans  saw  at  once  that  our 

57 


The  Triumph  of  die  Missionary  Motive 

soldiers    would    require   the    spiritual   help 
which  they  could  receive  from  the  Book  of 
Books.    President  Woodrow  Wilson  wrote : 
"  They  will  need  the  support  of  the  only 
book  from  which  they  can  get  it."     Theo-  • 
dore  Roosevelt  wrote :  "  Every  soldier  and 
sailor  of  the  United  States  should  have  a- 
Testament."     General  Pershing  cabled:  "  I 
am  glad  to  see  every  man  in  the  army  is  to 
have  a  Testament.    Its  teaching  will  fortify 
us   for  our  great  task."     A  soldier  said : 
"  Strange  as  it  sounds — and,  God's  truth, 
I'm  far  from  being  a  religious  man — the 
biggest  factor  in  the  war  is  God !    However 
little  religion  you've  got  at  home  the  biggest 
blackguard  in  the  ranks  prays  as  he  goes' 
into   action."      It   soon    became   apparent, 
therefore,  that  the  great  missionary  agen- 
cies, the  Bible  societies,  had  a  service  to' 
render. 

The  American  Bible  Society  alone  sent 
out  during  the  war  seven  million  copies  of 
the  Bible,  New  Testament,  Gospel  of  John, 
the  books  of  Psalms  and  Proverbs,  prepared 
in  eight  or  ten  languages,  which  were  dis- 
tributed overseas  among  the  active  troops 
of  all  the  belligerents,  in  prison  camps,  and 
in  hospitals.  When  America  entered  the 
war  an  attempt  was  made  to  see  that  every 
soldier  in  our  army  and  every  sailor  in  our 

58 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War -Time 

navy  received  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament. 
From  April  6,  191 7,  to  December  31,  19 18, 
the  American  Bible  Society  supplied  to  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  United  States 
alone  a  total  of  4,541,455  Bibles,  Testa- 
ments, and  Scripture  portions.  Other  socie- 
ties did  a  correspondingly  great  work  among 
the  soldiers.  Up  to  April,  19 18,  the  Ameri- 
can, British,  and  Scottish  Bible  societies 
distributed  15,000,000  volumes,  printed  in 
eighty-one  languages,  not  only  for  the  use 
of  the  troops,  but  for  labor  battalions  from 
many  parts  of  the  Orient  and  Africa. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of 
America  found  a  large  field  for  usefulness 
in  the  camps  for  prisoners  of  war  in  various 
European  countries,  and  later  for  the  mil- 
lions of  men  actually  under  arms  in  the 
cause  of  the  Allies.  The  Red  Triangle,  as 
well  as  the  Red  Cross,  endeared  itself  to 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  prisoners  of  war 
in  Russia,  Germany,  Italy,  France,  England, 
and  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  did  a  vast  work 
for  the  physical,  moral,  intellectual,  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  men  who  found  condi- 
tions in  army  prisons  intolerable.  Athletic 
games  were  organized,  many  forms  of  en- 
tertainment were  offered,  educational  classes 

59 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

were  formed,  Scriptures  and  general  litera- 
ture were  distributed,  religious  services  were 
held,  and  every  possible  thing  was  attempted 
which  promised  to  be  a  benefit  to  the  multi- 
tudes of  prisoners.  These  many  forms  of 
benevolent  activity  were  carried  into  the 
large  army  camps  of  America  and  into  those 
of  our  Allies  as  well  after  our  own  country 
entered  the  conflict.  This  colossal  plan  for 
serving  the  soldiers  of  many  nations  was 
conceived  by,  and  executed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  who  himself  was 
a  volunteer  for  foreign  missionary  service 
during  his  student  days  and  was  prevented 
from  going  abroad  only  because  of  the  in- 
sistent demand  that  he  give  his  life  to  move- 
ments at  the  home  base  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  missionary  enterprise  in  many  lands. 
The  same  can  be  said  of  Dr.  Robert  E. 
Speer,  who,  during  the  war,  was  the  chair- 
man of  the  War-Time  Commission  of  the 
Churches,  (Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in  America).  The  foreign  mission 
inspiration  had  given  many  men  an  outlook 
on  life  which  qualified  them  for  unusual 
service  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 

Just  prior  to  China's  declaration  of  war 
against  Germany,  her  chief  diplomatic  repre- 
sentatives at  three  of  the  principal  capitals 
of  the  world — London,  Berlin,  and  Wash- 

60 


Contributions  of  Missions  in  War-Time 

ington — were  alumni  of  one  mission  school 
in  China — St.  Johns  University,  at  Shan- 
ghai. Of  China's  five  outstanding  represen- 
tatives at  the  Peace  Conference  in  Paris, 
three  had  been  trained  in  China  under  the 
influence  of  Christian  missionaries.  Per- 
haps the  most  influential  spokesman  of  the 
group  was  Mr.  C.  T.  Wang,  former  vice- 
president  of  the  Chinese  senate,  general  sec- 
retary of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation in  China,  son  of  a  Christian  Chinese 
preacher,  and  himself  educated  in  China 
under  Christian  auspices  before  taking 
further  work  at  the  University  of  Michigan 
and  at  Yale.  Japan's  prime  minister  at  the 
time  when  Japan  entered  the  war  and  made 
declaration  of  purpose  to  return  Tsingtau  to 
China,  was  Marquis  Okuma,  who,  in  boy- 
hood, was  trained  in  the  mission  school  of 
Guido  Verbeck. 

Throughout  the  period  of  the  war,  as  at 
other  times,  the  missionary  forces  continued 
to  preach  a  gospel  of  love,  brotherhood, 
righteousness,  and  spiritual  democracy. 
This  must  ever  remain  their  chief  task,  in 
peace  or  in  turmoil.  When  the  war  was 
almost  at  its  height  for  America,  one  of  the 
best-known  professors  in  a  large  university 
said  it  had  come  to  pass  that  the  soldier,  the 
diplomat,  and  the  missionary  were  striving 

61 


TIw  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

for  the  same  ends.  Now  that  the  war  is 
over  we  realize  afresh  that,  after  all,  the 
spiritual  influences  are  the  eternal  forces, 
the  missionary  task  seems  increasingly  im- 
portant, if  it  is  faced  in  humility  and  in  a 
spirit  of  brotherhood  for  men  everywhere. 


62 


THE  SOCIAL  APPLICATION 

OF  THE  MISSIONARY 

MOTIVE  ABROAD 

By  JOSEPH  C.  ROBBINS 


THE  SOCIAL  APPLICATION 

OF  THE  MISSIONARY 

MOTIVE  ABROAD 


The  present  situation  in  the  non-Christian 
world  makes  the  missionary  motive  loom 
large.  It  is  the  dominant  element  in  the 
New  World  Movement  of  Northern  Bap- 
tists which  with  daring  faith  challenges  us 
to  the  vision  and  hope  of  a  new  world. 
Western  influence,  Western  education, 
Western  science,  Western  industry,  and 
Western  political  ideals  have  penetrated  the 
age-long  satisfaction  of  the  Orient.  The 
tension-points  in  the  modern  world  are  not 
confined  to  America.  This  unrest  is  as 
marked  today  in  China  as  in  America,  in 
Asia  as  in  Europe.  The  added  danger  of 
the  situation  in  the  Orient  is  that  this  West- 
ern influence,  apart  from  the  missionary  in- 
fluence, is  largely  materialistic  and  atheistic. 
These  influences  beating  in  upon  the  Eastern 
world  have  undermined  its  old  systems  of 
belief,  its  old  standards  of  morality,  and 
those  customs,  ethical  and  religious,  which 

e  65 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

have  been  a  conserving  force  in  the  life  of 
the  individual  and  the  nation. 
**  In  addition  to  the  basic,  religious,  and 
paramount  evangelistic  missionary  motive 
and  aim,  there  is  a  tremendous  missionary 
appeal  in  the  large  service  foreign  missions 
has  rendered  and  is  rendering  to  the  better- 
ment of  social  conditions  in  the  non-Chris- 
tian world.  At  Denver  the  Northern  Bap- 
tist Convention  defined  our  missionary  ob- 
jective as  follows :  "  That  as  a  denomination 
we  record  our  acceptance  of  the  conception 
that  the  mission  of  the  Christian  church  is 
to  establish  a  civilization,  Christian  in  spirit 
and  in  passion,  throughout  the  world." 
"The  mightiest  civilizing  agencies,"  says 
Doctor  Fairbairn,  "  are  persons ;  the  mighti- 
est civilizing  persons  are  Christian  men." 
The  missionaries  of  the  church  of  the  living 
God  have  been  the  mightiest  civilizing  forces 
the  world  has  ever  known.  The  missiona- 
ries have  raised  the  moral  and  social  atmos- 
phere of  the  world.  They  have  been  real 
light-bearers  who  have  gone  forth  in  a  heal- 
ing and  redemptive  ministry  to  all  mankind. 
It  is  the  missionary  who  has  made  known 
the  non-Christian  world  to  us.  The  dark 
continent  of  Africa  was  opened  by  Liv- 
ingstone, the  missionary  pathfinder,  and  his 
fellow  missionaries  who  followed  closely  in 

66 


Social  Applications  Abroad 


his  steps.  This  is  true  in  large  part  of  Korea, 
China,  Siam,  Burma,  and  Arabia.  The  geo- 
graphical contribution  of  missionaries  has 
been  a  large  factor  in  adding  to  our  knowl- 
edge vast  portions  of  the  habitable  globe. 
The  knowledge  of  the  literature  and  lan- 
guage of  these  countries  is  due  in  large  part 
to  these  unselfish  servants  of  the  church. 
Morrison  in  China,  Carey  in  India,  Hep- 
burn in  Japan,  Gale  in  Korea,  Judson  and 
Cushing  in  Burma,  gave  us  the  dictionary  of 
the  great  languages  of  these  lands.  The 
missionaries  are  the  great  linguists  of  the 
world.  Their  translation  of  the  Scriptures 
in  more  than  five  hundred  languages  is  the 
outstanding  literary  achievement  of  the  cen- 
turies. In  the  words  of  a  publication  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institute:  "The  contribution 
of  missionaries  to  history,  ethnology,  phi- 
losophy, geography,  and  religious  literature 
forms  a  lasting  monument  to  their  fame." 

The  missionary  has  been  a  vital  factor  in  j 
interpreting  the  best  of  American  life  to  the 
peoples  among  whom  they  have  gone.  They 
have  helped  in  international  understanding 
and  good  will,  and  have  been  a  tremendously 
important  factor  in  diplomatic  relations  with 
these  lands.  Sir  Henry  Johnstown,  one  of 
the  greatest  administrators  in  Africa,  said : 
"When  the  history  of  the  great  African  states 

67 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

of  the  future  comes  to  be  written,  the  arrival 
of  the  first  missionary  will,  with  many  of 
those  nations,  be  the  first  historical  event  in 
their  minds.',  And  that  great  Christian  sol- 
dier and  famous  Indian  administrator,  Lord 
John  Lawrence,  declared  that  however  much 
the  British  Government  had  done  for  India, 
he  was  convinced  that  the  missionary  had 
done  more  to  benefit  India  than  all  the 
other  agencies  combined.  In  the  report  on 
"Indian  Constitutional  Reforms,"  by  Mr. 
Montague,  secretary  of  state  for  India,  and 
Lord  Chelmsford,  viceroy  for  India,  they 
write  as  follows :  "  It  is  difficult  to  overesti- 
mate the  devoted  and  creative  work  which 
missionary  money  and  enterprise  are  doing 
in  the  fields  of  morals,  education,  and  sani- 
tation." One  of  our  missionaries  writes  in 
regard  to  the  proposed  reforms :  "  Has  it  oc- 
curred to  you  what  a  big  call  for  the  vigor- 
ous prosecution  of  mission  work  in  India 
is  afforded  by  the  scheme  for  constitutional 
reform  in  India?  The  attempt  being  made 
by  the  British  here  is  unique.  It  is  to  lead 
the  people  of  India  gradually,  but  by  very 
definite  steps,  into  real  democratic  govern- 
ment. Now,  democracy  can  rest  securely  on 
nothing  but  character,  and  Christianity  can 
produce  the  character  that  India  sorely  needs 
to  make  democracy  a  success." 

68 


Social  Applications  Abroad 

From  the  very  first  missionaries  have! 
recognized  the  social  motive  and  appeal  of  J 
the  missionary  task.  In  the  work  of  Wil- 
liam Carey,  the  founder  of  modern  missions,' 
we  have  a  striking  illustration  of  the  social 
implication  of  foreign  missions.  He  recog- 
nized the  medical  needs  of  the  work  by 
taking  with  him  to  India  John  Thomas,  a 
physician.  The  printing-press  was  to  Carey 
a  missionary  agency  of  the  first  importance, 
and  he  founded  the  first  Bengali  newspaper 
and  the  first  English  magazine  in  India.  In 
the  work  of  Scripture  translation  his  fame 
remains  unequaled  to  this  day,  for  from  the 
mission  press  at  Serampore,  Carey  and  his 
colleagues  sent  out  the  complete  Bible  in  six 
languages,  the  New  Testament  in  twenty- 
two  more,  and  Scripture  portions  in  other 
languages,  so  that  from  this  center  the 
Scriptures  in  forty  languages  went  out  to 
different  parts  of  the  Orient.  The  first  uni- 
versity college  in  India  was  founded  by  him 
at  Serampore.  Before  1818  this  early  group 
of  missionaries  had  established  more  than 
one  hundred  schools  with  several  thousand 
pupils.  Carey  was  interested  in  agriculture 
and  formed  the  "  Agricultural  and  Horti- 
cultural Society  of  India  "  long  before  any 
similar  society  had  been  organized  in  Great 
Britain. 

69 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

These  early  pioneer  missionaries,  Carey 
and  Duff,  had  no  small  place  in  the  social 
reform  movement  in  India,  and  Carey's 
tongue  became  a  very  sword  to  fight  for  the 
women  of  India.  His  pen  was  the  lance  of 
a  Christian  knight  as  he  strove  day  and 
night  to  bring  the  government  to  his  view 
and  do  away  by  government  action  with  sut- 
tee, or  the  burning  of  widows  in  India.  For 
long  the  government  feared  that  such  action 
would  rouse  the  Hindus  to  fury  in  defense 
of  their  religion  and  its  customs.  Then  one 
day  the  government  order  abolishing  suttee 
was  signed  by  the  governor-general,  Lord 
William  Bentinck,  and  was  put  into  Carey's 
hands.  He  had  been  appointed  government 
translator,  for  he  knew  the  language  far 
better  than  any  of  the  civil  servants.  It  was 
Sunday  morning,  December  4,  1829.  Every 
day  fresh  victims  were  being  burned.  There 
could  be  no  delay.  Before  the  sun  had  set 
Carey  had  finished  translating  the  great  de- 
cree, and  on  Monday  the  compositors  were 
busy  setting  the  type  that  the  order  might 
be  known  throughout  all  India.  Few  men 
have  been  a  greater  factor  in  the  social  pro- 
gress of  the  world  than  this  pioneer  foreign 
missionary. 

The  arrival  of  the  Scotch  educational 
missionary,  Alexander  Duff,  in  Calcutta  in 

70 


Social  Applications  Abroad 

1830,  dated  a  new  era  in  India's  national 
life.  India  stood  at  the  parting  of  the  ways. 
Was  the  British  raj  in  India  to  hold  a  sub- 
ject race  in  ignorance,  or  introduce  there  the 
benefits  of  modern  education  ?  Duff  brought 
to  India  two  convictions :  First,  the  value  of 
education  as  a  missionary  asset;  second, 
that  the  vehicle  of  instruction  should  be  the 
English  tongue,  permeated  as  it  was  with 
Christian  ideals.  The  government  accepted 
Duff's  policy,  and  in  1835  issued  its  famous 
decree  establishing  the  English  language  as 
a  medium  of  instruction  in  Indian  schools 
and  colleges.  Doctor  Faunce  says :  "  Thus 
the  idea  of  one  isolated  missionary  became 
the  policy  of  the  Indian  Empire." 

The  non-Christian  world  is  helpless  in 
the  face  of  disease.  It  is  a  sick  world.  Inj 
India,  where  the  British  Government  has  at- 
tempted to  relieve  the  situation  by  providing 
hospitals  and  medical  aid  and  medical  men, 
as  many  people  as  are  in  the  United  States 
are  beyond  the  reach  of  even  the  simplest 
medical  aid.  A  general  estimate  by  careful 
students  suggests  that  ninety  out  of  every 
hundred  of  the  inhabitants  of  non-Christian 
lands,  especially  outside  the  largest  cities, 
have  absolutely  no  access  to  medical  treat- 
ment. The  Rockefeller  Foundation  on 
Medical  Work  in  China  reports  that  "  the 

7i 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

need  for  medical  work  is  found  to  be  greater 
than  anticipated.  Not  only  do  the  Chinese 
people  lack  almost  all  opportunity  for  medi- 
cal treatment  outside  the  relatively  few  cen- 
ters where  missionaries  and  hospitals  have 
been  established,  but  the  development  of 
modern  conditions,  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery, railways,  etc.,  have  resulted  in  an 
increase  of  suffering  due  to  accidents  and 
occupational  diseases."  In  the  spirit  of  the 
Great  Physician,  the  medical  missionaries 
of  the  Christian  church  have  responded 
most  heroically  to  the  call  of  the  non-Chris- 
tian world. 

In  the  fall  of  1910  Arthur  Jackson,  one  of 
the  best  known  athletes  and  scholars  of  his 
day  in  Cambridge  University,  went  out  to 
Manchuria  as  a  medical  missionary.  A  month 
later  the  pneumonic  plague  began  to  surge 
down  from  the  north.  The  death-rate  was 
one  hundred  per  cent.  Not  one  man,  woman, 
or  child  attacked  recovered.  Arthur  Jackson 
laid  down  all  his  other  work  and  went  down 
to  the  railroad  station  at  Mukden  to  erect 
a  barrier  between  that  oncoming  pestilence 
and  the  great  masses  of  Central  and  South- 
ern China.  Day  after  day,  clothed  in  a  long 
white  robe,  with  bag  over  his  head,  breath- 
ing through  a  sponge,  he  went  about  his 
work,  segregating  the  disease  and  visiting 

72      . 


Social  Applications  Abroad 

every  railway  car  that  came  in  and  separat- 
ing every  suspected  Chinese,  until  at  last  he 
stemmed  the  fatal  tide.  Then  one  day  when 
his  work  was  done  he  discovered  that  the 
pestilence  had  seized  him,  and  in  few  hours 
his  great  sacrificial  life  had  come  to  its  close. 
At  the  memorial  service  two  days  later  in 
the  British  consulate,  the  old  Chinese  vice- 
roy said :  "  Doctor  Jackson,  with  the  heart 
of  the  Saviour  who  gave  his  life  to  deliver 
the  world,  responded  nobly  when  we  asked 
him  to  help  our  country  in  need.  He  went 
forth  to  help  us  in  our  fight  daily.  Where 
the  pestilence  lay  the  thickest,  amid  the 
groans  of  the  dying,  he  struggled  to  cure 
the  stricken  and  to  find  medicine  to  stay  the 
evil.  Worn  by  his  efforts,  the  pestilence 
seized  him  and  took  him  away  from  us  be- 
fore his  time.  Our  sorrow  is  beyond  all 
measure." 

The  non-Christian  world  is  pitifully,  des-j 
perately  poor.  It  is  estimated  that  in  India* 
more  people  than  live  in  the  United  States 
never  have  more  than  one  good  meal  a  day. 
Lord  Cromer  estimates  the  average  yearly 
income  in  India  at  about  nine  dollars  per 
capita.  Making  all  allowances  for  differ- 
ences in  money  values,  this  is  poverty,  ex- 
treme and  relentless.  The  coolie  classes  in 
China  are  about  in  the  same  situation.    Life 

73 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

rolls  out  just  one  painful  struggle  to  keep 
alive.  Nothing  short  of  the  marvelous 
stamina  and  courage  of  that  race  could  bear 
the  awful  strain. 

In  the  heart  of  the  industrial  district  of 
East  Side,  Shanghai,  China,  is  located  the 
Yangtzepoo  Social  Center,  the  laboratory 
for  the  department  of  sociology  of  Shanghai 
Baptist  College.  The  organization  has  as  its 
object  the  moral,  physical,  and  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  these  thousands  of  men,  women, 
boys,  and  girls  who  labor  in  the  great  cotton 
mills  and  other  factories  of  Shanghai. 
There  are  thirty  thousand  operatives, 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  whom  are  women 
and  girls  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  alone  in  this  district.  The  mills  ex- 
tend two  miles  and  a  half  along  Yangtzepoo 
Road  and  the  river  banks.  Other  industries 
such  as  engineering  works,  foundries,  lum- 
ber yards,  saw-mills,  and  silk  filatures  make 
up  a  population  of  more  than  forty  thou- 
sand workers.  In  general,  the  hours  of 
labor  are  from  six  in  the  morning  to  six  at 
night,  with  the  same  run  for  the  night  shift. 
Child  labor  is  common  practice. 

With  such  conditions  as  these,  the  Yang- 
tzepoo Social  Center  has  a  wide  field  in 
which  to  work,  and  a  number  of  reforms 
have  already  been  started.    The  head  of  the 

74 


Social  Applications  Abroad 

department  of  sociology  of  Shanghai  Bap- 
tist College  is  director  of  the  center.  There 
is  a  committee  on  development  made  up  of 
one  foreign  and  three  Chinese  cotton-mill 
managers  and  one  lawyer.  Chinese  and  for- 
eign men  and  women  of  prominence  have 
been  secured  as  patrons. 

A  large  playground  equipped  with  modern 
apparatus  is  maintained  by  the  play  depart- 
ment of  the  Yangtzepoo  Social  Center.  Nu- 
merous electric  lights  make  the  playgrounds 
accessible  day  and  night.  Instruction  and 
training  is  provided  not  only  for  street  chil- 
dren and  students  in  the  school,  but  for 
those  workers  in  the  shops  who  can  come 
only  at  night. 

Tokyo,  with  a  population  of  two  and  a 
half  million  people,  is  the  metropolis  of  the 
Orient.  Strategically  located  in  this  throb- 
bing mass  of  humanity  is  the  Tokyo  Baptist 
Tabernacle.  Rev.  William  Axling,  the  mis- 
sionary in  charge,  writes :  "  Evangelizing, 
educating,  serving  are  the  three  words  that 
loom  large  in  our  program  of  work."  In 
my  visit  to  the  Tabernacle  two  years  ago  I 
was  impressed  with  the  wide  social  outreach 
of  this  great  church  as  it  "  aims  to  minister 
to  the  whole  man  and  to  serve  the  whole 
community."  The  lot  of  the  working  man 
in  Tokyo  is  particularly  hard.    His  working 

75 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

hours  are  long,  from  ten  to  fifteen  hours  a 
day.  He  has  no  Sundays  and  few  holidays. 
On  Saturday  evenings  popular  lectures  are 
held  at  the  Tabernacle  for  these  men.  Here 
the  great  vital  problems  of  life  are  discussed 
by  Christian  men  who  try  to  show  that  the 
church  is  really  interested  in  them.  Such 
questions  as  social  purity,  sex  hygiene, 
home-making,  temperance,  sanitation,  anti- 
tuberculosis, and  kindred  themes  that  make 
for  a  cleaner  and  higher  community  and  a 
better  national  life  are  here  dealt  with  from 
the  Christian  point  of  view.  The  policy  of 
the  Tokyo  Tabernacle  is  to  make  a  conscien- 
tious effort  to  meet  the  most  pressing  needs 
of  the  people  round  about  it.  Such  a  need 
came  to  the  surface  during  the  past  year  in 
the  condition  of  the  working  girls  of  the 
neighborhood.  In  the  struggle  of  industrial 
and  commercial  life  into  which  the  young 
women  of  Japan  are  being  thrust  forth, 
there  are  many  temptations  that  they  are  un- 
prepared to  meet.  For  this  class  of  young 
women  a  working  girls'  night  school  was  or- 
ganized last  February,  where  are  taught 
sewing,  care  of  the  sick,  reading,  writing, 
and  other  elementary  branches.  A  simple 
chapel  service  is  held  each  night  for  these 
girls.  Some  of  the  other  features  of  the 
work  of  the  tabernacle  are  the  kindergarten, 


Social  Applications  Abroad 

day  nursery,  playground,  apprentices'  night 
school,  and  free  legal  advice  bureau.  In- 
creasing emphasis  is  put  upon  Bible  study, 
and  as  far  as  possible  there  is  a  Bible  study 
group  in  each  department. 

Industrial  and  agricultural  missionaries 
are  doing  noble  service  in  response  to  the 
cry  of  a  poor  and  hungry  world.  An  out- 
standing example  of  missionary  agricultural 
work  is  that  of  Mr.  Sam  Higginbottom,  who 
has  developed  an  agricultural  school  at  Al- 
lahabad, in  the  united  provinces,  India. 

From  all  parts  of  India  young  men  go 
there  for  practical  training  in  agriculture. 
A  rich  Hindu  of  the  highest  caste,  himself 
a  landowner  of  ten  thousand  acres,  is  a 
student  here  working  beside  low-caste  boys. 
On  the  mission  farm  young  nobles  from  the 
native  states  take  the  course  in  agriculture 
and  then  go  back  to  their  states  to  introduce 
the  new  agricultural  methods.  Mr.  Higgin- 
bottom has  introduced  modern  American 
agricultural  machinery  and  improved  live 
stock,  and  while  the  common  yield  of  wheat 
in  India  is  less  than  ten  bushels  per  acre, 
Mr.  Higginbottom  on  the  mission  farm  se- 
cures a  yield  of  twenty-five  to  thirty  bushels. 
Indian  princes  and  high  British  Government 
officials  come  from  afar  to  visit  the  mission 
farm.    The  Maharaja  of  the  native  state  of 

77 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

Gwalior  has  placed  Mr.  Higginbottom  in 
charge  of  the  agricultural  development  of  his 
state  and  has  set  aside  an  annual  budget  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  this  work. 
Other  native  princes  have  called  upon  him 
for  advice  and  made  large  financial  offers 
in  an  attempt  to  secure  the  full  time  of  this 
American  farmer  missionary.  Mr.  Higgin- 
bottom is,  however,  primarily  a  Christian 
missionary.  He  knows  that  agriculture 
alone  cannot  save  India,  so  he  remains  at 
Ewing  College  where,  with  his  agriculture, 
he  is  free  to  teach  Christ,  and  the  young 
nobles  who  graduate  from  the  mission  agri- 
cultural school  take  back  with  them  in  addi- 
tion to  their  new  agricultural  knowledge 
something  deep  and  abiding  that  they  ob- 
tained in  Higginbottom' s  Bible  classes.  Be- 
sides his  work  at  the  college  and  his  ser- 
vices as  agricultural  adviser  to  nine  native 
states,  this  American  missionary  is  today 
the  recognized  agricultural  expert  of  north- 
ern India. 

"  I  was  sick  and  in  prison  and  ye  visited 
me."  These  words  of  the  Master  came  to 
me  again  and  again  as  I  visited  Kavali,  in 
our  South  India  Mission.  Here  we  have  es- 
tablished the  Erukala  Criminal  Settlement. 
The  Erukalas  are  of  the  criminal  castes  of 
India,  and  we  are  doing  here  a  piece  of  con- 

78 


Social  Applications  Abroad 

structive,  Christian  social  service  of  the  very 
largest  value.  Rev.  S.  D.  Bawden  is  in 
charge  of  this  work,  and  there  are  now 
i, 800  of  these  criminals  on  the  roll  of  the 
settlement.  In  addition  to  the  people  at 
the  main  settlement,  there  are  at  Allur  and 
Bitraguntra  one  hundred  and  fifty  families, 
graduates  of  Kavali,  who,  Mr.  Bawden 
thinks,  can  be  trusted  and  who  are  eager  to 
make  in  this  way  a  beginning  of  honest,  in- 
dustrious citizenship.  We  visited  both  of 
these  other  settlements  and  found  clean, 
well-kept  villages,  and  industrious,  happy 
people,  which  proved  to  us  the  value  of  the 
work  being  done  at  Kavali  and  the  wisdom 
of  Mr.  Bawden's  administration.  Mr.  Baw- 
den is  the  right  man  in  the  right  place  for 
this  unique  type  of  missionary  work.  Phys- 
ically, he  is  a  strong  young  giant,  and  he  is 
firm  and  kind  in  his  discipline,  a  man  of  deep 
religious  and  spiritual  experience  and  prac- 
tical Christian  living.  At  the  settlement  at 
Allur,  where  his  most  trusted  people  are  sent, 
there  are  eighty-two  people  and  no  police. 
At  Bitraguntra,  the  second  settlement,  with 
three  hundred  and  forty  criminals,  there  are 
four  special  constables  chosen  from  among 
the  people  themselves.  At  Kavali,  with 
more  than  1,500  criminals,  there  are  two 
head  constables  of  the  regular  government 

79 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

police  and  eighteen  special  constables  chosen 
from  the  criminal  settlers.  Because  Mr. 
Bawden  wishes  the  members  of  the  settle- 
ment to  act  as  if  they  were  trusted,  the  po- 
lice carry  no  firearms  and  there  are  no  walls 
about  the  settlement.  Mr.  Bawden  says: 
"  One  of  the  most  important  items  in  such 
a  settlement  is  the  matter  of  discipline.  It 
must  be  just,  firm,  and  constant,  but  must 
also  be  kindly.  These  people  have  been 
wanderers  without  restraint  and  without 
consideration  of  the  rights  of  others.  We 
endeavor  to  train  them  in  honesty  and  inde- 
pendence and  hence  must  restrain  their 
wrong  impulse  and  give  them  all  the  free- 
dom possible  as  long  as  they  do  not  abuse 
it.  Holding  them  within  walls  would  se- 
cure them  their  physical  restraint,  but  would 
not  develop  their  strength  of  character. 
Therefore  we  have  no  walls,  but  state  the 
limits  carefully  and  punish  without  fail 
when  these  limits  are  transgressed." 

Every  boy  and  girl  between  six  and 
twelve  years  of  age  is  required  to  be  at 
school.  At  each  of  the  three  settlements  a 
night  school  is  provided  for  the  young  men 
who  work  during  the  day,  and  at  Kavali  and 
Bitraguntra  there  is  a  similar  school  for  the 
young  women.  There  are  two  hundred  and 
sixty  children  in  the  schools  of  the  three  set- 

80 


Social  Applications  Abroad 


tlements,  sixty  young  men  in  the  men's  night 
school,  and  twenty-four  young  women  in  the 
women's  night  school.  Firmness,  justice, 
kindness,  work,  education,  and  vital  Chris- 
tianity— these  are  the  key-words  in  Mr. 
Bawden's  management  of  the  criminal  set- 
tlement. It  is  the  firm  conviction  of  Mr. 
Bawden  that  reform  of  these  criminal 
classes  is  impossible  aside  from  the  teaching 
of  moral  and  religious  truths.  Mr.  Bawden 
frankly  believes  that  the  Christian  religion 
offers  the  only  true  solution  of  the  problem. 
Each  morning  a  roll  call  is  held  at  which  the 
Bible  is  read  and  a  brief  exposition  is  given 
by  one  of  the  staff,  after  which  prayer  is 
offered  and  all  join  in  repeating  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  concert.  Sunday  is  a  holiday 
from  work,  but  the  hours  are  broken  up  and 
trouble  averted  by  the  requirements  that  all 
attend  Sunday  school  and  the  preaching  ser- 
vice in  the  afternoon.  Many  of  the  crimi- 
nals who  when  they  first  come  make  objec- 
tion to  listening  to  Christian  truth,  later 
show  their  approval  by  earnest  attention  at 
these  services. 

Foreign  missions  has  introduced  a  new 
moral  force  into  the  social  life  of  the  world, 
and  has  been  a  tremendous  factor  in  educa- 
tion, philanthropy,  relief  of  human  suffer- 
ing, the  advance  of  hygiene,  sanitation,  and 

f  81 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

'preventive  medicine.  Foreign  missions  has 
always  and  everywhere  promoted  interna- 
tional understanding  and  good  will.  The 
missionary  movement  is  God's  response  to 
the  world's  need  through  his  church. 


82 


VI 

THE  SOCIAL  APPLICATION 

OF  THE  MISSIONARY 

MOTIVE  AT  HOME 

By  JUSTIN  W.  NIXON 


THE  SOCIAL  APPLICATION 

OF  THE   MISSIONARY 

MOTIVE  AT  HOME 


The  Christian  religion  entered  the  world 
as  a  thrilling  and  miraculous  promise  of 
salvation  to  mankind.  In  spite  of  the  age- 
long tragedy  of  human  sin,  it  had  a  bound- 
less faith  in  the  potential  divine  sonship  of 
the  downmost  man  in  society.  It  held  out 
to  the  slave  as  well  as  to  a  Caesar  the  vast 
and  limitless  hope  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
It  heralded  a  philosophy — the  amazement 
of  the  learned  yet  comprehensible  by  the 
ignorant — that  the  meaning  of  life  was  to 
be  found  in  fellowship  with  God  as  he  had 
been  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  energy 
of  the  new  faith  was  love — a  divine  crea- 
tive power  which  bound  alien  races  and 
hostile  groups  together  in  the  embrace  of 
the  church,  which  flowed  out  in  a  myriad  of 
philanthropies  to  relieve  the  needy  and  the 
oppressed.  Christianity  confronted  all 
crises  with  its  inmost  conviction  that  in 
Jesus  Christ  it  had  something  incomparable, 

85 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

a  personality  and  a  power  that  belonged  to 
a  new  order  of  life  before  whose  love  and 
truth  all  the  alien  forces  of  the  world  must 
ultimately  go  down. 

The  missionary  enterprise  is  the  supreme 
embodiment  in  our  time  of  the  original 
thrilling  and  miraculous  promise  of  Chris- 
tianity to  the  world.  When  we  grow  weary 
with  gazing  at  congealed  institutionalisms, 
when  the  heart  grows  sick  at  the  lack  of 
adventure,  at  the  constant  fear  of  the  new 
note  in  either  message  or  method,  one 
draught  from  the  well-spring  of  modern  mis- 
sions may  renew  an  enthusiasm  like  that  of 
the  Apostolic  age.  The  modern  missionary 
enterprise  represents  Christianity  at  high 
tide.  It  is  a  Christianity  conscious  of  its 
imperial  goal  and  destiny.  It  is  a  Chris- 
tianity unafraid  of  visions  and  dreams  be- 
cause it  knows  that  only  visions  and  dreams 
can  ever  enlist  youth.  It  is  a  Christianity 
which  frankly  breathes  out  challenges  to  the 
impossible.  It  is  a  Christianity  that  has  ac- 
cepted service  as  the  supreme  motive  and 
sacrifice  as  the  supreme  method  of  spiritual 
achievement.  It  is  a  Christianity  standard- 
ized as  militant  and  victorious.  It  stresses 
the  military  virtues  of  courage  and  obedi- 
ence. It  can  and  does  furnish  a  moral 
equivalent  for  war.     Daring  in  hope,  pio- 

86 


Social  Applications  at  Home 


neering  in  spirit,  with  faith  in  the  salvability 
of  men,  in  the  sufficiency  of  Christ  and  the 
power  of  God,  with  the  thrill  of  adventur- 
ous youth  in  its  larger  strategy  and  its  battle 
tactics,  the  missionary  enterprise  summons 
the  somnolent  religious  forces  of  the  home 
lands  to  put  their  house  in  order,  that  with 
a  united  spirit  Protestant  Christianity  may 
prepare  for  a  gigantic  spiritual  offensive 
against  the  aggressive  pagan  forces  of  the 
modern  world.  It  is  this  appeal  from  the 
missionary  enterprise  to  the  churches  of 
America  to  get  on  a  war  basis  that  we  find 
justification  for  the  discussion  of  the  theme, 
"  The  Social  Application  of  the  Missionary 
Motive  at  Home." 

^  We  need  the  social  application  of  the  mis- 
sionary motive  at  home. 

i.  To  create  a  social  environment  favor- 
able to  the  emergence  and  growth  of  Chris- 
tian personality. 

One  of  the  most  formative  convictions 
operating  in  the  life  of  our  time  is  that  of 
the  organic  unity  of  human  relationships. 
The  principle  involved  is  that  the  experi- 
ence of  the  individual  in  one  sphere  of  his 
life  conditions  his  experience  in  the  other 
spheres.  Modern  psychology  emphasizes 
the  unity  of  the  physiological  and  the  psy- 
chical in  the  life  of  the  individual.    Modern 

87 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

sociology  stresses  the  solidarity  of  the  in- 
dividual and  the  group.  It  follows  that  if 
you  desire  to  improve  permanently  the 
ideals  of  the  individual  you  must  improve 
the  ideals  and  customs  of  the  group  to  which 
he  belongs,  or,  failing  in  that,  build  up  new 
groups  and  relationships  so  that  some  group 
life  will  be  possible  for  him.  To  create  a 
high-grade,  well-rounded  individual  with- 
out a  group  of  some  kind  that  favors  that 
type  of  personality  is  as  difficult  as  to  at- 
tempt to  run  a  fish-hatchery  without  an  ap- 
propriate environment  of  water. 

This  principle  of  the  organic  unity  of 
human  relationships  is  recognized  as  a  com- 
monplace in  the  foreign  missionary  enter- 
prise. The  missionary  in  India  will  not 
ignore  the  fact  of  caste  in  conducting  his 
propaganda,  for  Christianity  in  the  individ- 
ual and  the  caste  system  of  social  relation- 
ships are  permanently  incompatible.  The 
family  system  of  Moslem  countries,  the  an- 
cestor worship  of  the  Chinese,  the  tyranny 
of  tribal  custom  among  the  savage  peoples 
have  compelled  the  missionary  to  think  of 
the  social  relationships  of  the  personalities 
he  desires  to  redeem.  He  cannot  develop 
the  Christlike  personality  in  a  social 
vacuum.  This  discovery  has  occasioned  the 
many  types  of  activity  that  we  find  in  the 

88 


Social  Applications  at  Home 

foreign  missionary  enterprise.  The  crea- 
tion of  churches,  of  languages  and  litera- 
tures, of  educational  systems,  of  hospital 
and  medical  facilities,  of  industrial  training 
schools,  the  assistance  of  campaigns  of  so- 
cial reform  for  the  freeing  of  Hindu  wo- 
men, for  the  abolition  of  foot-binding  and 
of  the  gambling  and  opium  curses  in  China, 
all  point  to  the  effort  of  the  missionary  to 
create  an  environment  of  group  life  in 
which  it  will  be  possible  for  the  Christian 
type  of  personality  to  nourish  and  propa- 
gate. 

This  principle  requires  far  more  thor- 
ough recognition  and  application  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Christian  church  in  Amer- 
ica. Our  thinking  and  our  method  are  still 
largely  predicated  upon  the  supposition  that 
the  individual  is  an  isolated  unit.  The 
theory  that  all  you  need  to  do  to  secure  a 
Christian  social  order  is  to  present  an  evan- 
gelistic appeal  to  certain  individuals  regard- 
less of  the  environment  of  those  individuals 
and  regardless  of  the  social  expression  of 
the  evangelistic  message  after  it  is  accepted, 
is  on  all  fours  with  the  theory  that  all  you 
need  to  do  to  cure  industrial  unrest  is  to 
jail  or  deport  the  agitators.  The  majority 
of  thinking  Americans,  however,  know  that 
our  industrial  difficulties  cannot  be  cured  by 

89 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

any  such  facile  and  expeditious  method.  A 
recent  definition,  "  How  to  make  a  Bolshe- 
vist," recognizes  this  principle  of  the  or- 
ganic unity  of  social  relationships  for  which 
we  are  pleading  in  this  article.  "  Take 
almost  any  one  when  he  is  a  baby,"  the  defi- 
nition suggests,  "  nourish  him  insufficiently, 
let  him  grow  up  in  a  dark,  dirty,  hideous 
tenement;  educate  him  as  badly  as  possi- 
ble, take  him  out  of  school  when  he  is  thir- 
teen or  fourteen  and  put  him  to  work ;  make 
him  work  hard  and  long  and  be  poorly  paid ; 
see  that  he  marries  and  tries  to  bring  up  his 
family  on  less  than  a  living  income;  throw 
him  out  of  employment  now  and  then;  let 
illness  strike  him  and  his  family  especially 
hard,  and  some  day  when  he  is  in  a  recep- 
tive mood  introduce  him  to  the  Bolshevist 
doctrine."  If  the  church  will  carry  out  con- 
sistently the  principle  of  the  organic  unity 
of  social  relationships  which  the  Bolshevist 
recognizes  in  his  propaganda,  it  will  mean 
a  quiet  revolution  in  our  approach  to  men. 
It  will  mean  a  reorganization  of  our  curri- 
cula of  religious  education  so  as  to  discuss 
and  define  the  qualities  of  Christian  living 
in  connection  with  those  concrete  situations 
of  modern  life  where  those  qualities  are  to 
be  applied.  It  will  mean  the  acceptance  by 
the  church  of  new  responsibilities  as  an  or- 

90 


Social  Applications  at  Home 

ganizing  agency  for  the  promotion  of  a 
Christian  public  opinion.  It  will  bring  the 
membership  of  our  churches  into  a  sobering 
realization  of  the  contrast  between  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  and  the  pagan  forces  of  our 
civilization.  It  will  mean  that  many  Chris- 
tians who  throw  down  the  gage  of  battle 
to  these  forces  will  realize  for  the  first  time 
in  their  lives  that  there  is  no  other  basis  for 
the  Christian  career  than  the  sacrificial  mis- 
sionary basis.  It  will  mean  finally  that  the 
struggle  for  a  genuinely  Christian  social 
order  will  be  so  serious  and  difficult  that  the 
church  will  be  thrown  back  upon  its  spirit- 
ual resources  as  it  has  not  been  since  the 
Apostolic  age.  The  social  application  of  the 
missionary  motive,  accordingly,  may  well 
mean  a  rediscovery  by  the  church  of  the  in- 
comparable, exhaustless  powers  of  Christ 
himself. 

We  need  the  social  application  of  the  mis- 
sionary motive  at  home. 

2.  To  answer  the  call  of  democracy  for 
moral  leadership  and  a  spiritual  basis. 

The  movement  of  democracy  is  the  most 
characteristic  and  fateful  movement  of  our 
time.  Containing  within  it  the  promise  of 
largest  benefit  to  mankind,  it  also  raises  our 
gravest  and  most  pressing  problems.  The 
crisis  which  we  find  in  the  industrial  world, 

9i 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

for  instance,  is  occasioned  by  the  breaking 
through  into  the  valley  of  industry  of  the 
stream  of  democracy  which  since  the  days 
of  Cromwell  and  Milton  had  been  flowing 
with  increasing  turbulence  down  the  valley 
of  politics.  The  wise  leaders  are  trying  to 
get  the  stream  of  democracy  into  some 
regular  channel  as  it  flows  through  the  val- 
ley of  industry  that  we  may  build  our  mills 
and  factories  along  its  banks  and  use  its 
power  for  producing  the  necessities  of  a 
new  order.  But  for  the  present  we  are  toss- 
ing about  upon  the  great  flood  of  demo- 
cratic change,  confused  by  raucous  cries  of 
repression  and  of  the  class-conscious  will  to 
power.  The  whole  of  modern  civilization 
is  afloat  in  the  torrent.  We  are  not  cer- 
tain, to  change  the  figure,  whether  there  is 
to  be  a  squaring  off  of  modern  society  into 
two  great  opposing  classes  with  the  lust  for 
power  and  control  the  real  material  motive 
of  conflict,  or  whether  there  is  to  be  a 
genuine  reconciliation  of  men  with  one 
another  as  they  lay  together  the  founda- 
tions of  a  more  just  and  brotherly  society. 
No  foolish  and  superficial  optimism  should 
conceal  the  gravity  of  the  issue.  Western 
civilization  passed  into  a  night  of  one  thou- 
sand years  after  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, and  we  may  be  witnessing  now  the  twi- 

92 


Social  Applications  at  Home 

light  of  another  great  system  of  human  life. 
The  movement  toward  the  collective  control 
of  industry  has  been  enormously  strength- 
ened by  the  war.  The  institution  of  these 
processes  may  change  the  whole  form  and 
color  of  our  civilization  as  thoroughly  as 
the  industrial  revolution  of  1750  changed 
the  face  of  the  modern  world  and  as  the 
propaganda  of  Hellenism  and  the  infiltra- 
tion of  the  barbarians  changed  the  Roman 
Empire.  But  is  this  almost  inevitable  de- 
velopment to  mean  an  enrichment  of  life 
or  its  decadence?  The  road  to  the  desired 
end  is  not  clear.  It  is  tortuous  and  dan- 
gerous. There  are  precipices  to  avoid  and 
long  wearisome  ascents  to  make,  and  there 
are  dead  men's  curves  here  and  there  upon 
it.  Nor  is  there  any  guarantee  of  success. 
Worn  and  bleeding  from  the  death  struggle 
with  autocracy,  staring  at  the  lurid  mottoes 
upon  the  sign-boards  erected  by  the  war 
guides  Fear  and  Hate,  the  Western  democ- 
racies wearily  grope  their  way  amid  the 
shades  of  twilight  or  of  dawn. 

It  is  the  conviction  of  the  writer  that 
there  can  be  no  optimistic  answer  to  this 
question  which  ignores  the  fateful  responsi- 
bility of  the  church  at  this  hour.  If  the 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  will  set  her  own 
house  in  order,  accept  the  missionary  faith 

93 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

in  the  worth  of  the  humblest  life,  in  the 
sufficiency  of  Christ,  in  service  as  the  su- 
preme motive,  in  sacrifice  and  love  as  the 
dynamics  of  social  reconstruction,  the  en- 
tire energies  of  the  democratic  movement 
may  be  harnessed  to  the  tasks  of  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

It  means  that  the  church  must  heed  the 
call  of  democracy  for  moral  leadership. 
When  Arthur  Henderson,  leader  of  the 
British  Labor  Party,  speaks  of  the  "  su- 
preme importance  of  character  as  an  indis- 
pensable factor  in  national  and  international 
life,"  do  we  realize  that  he  is  calling  to  the 
church  ?  When  he  says,  "  to  secure  an  im- 
provement in  the  material  and  social  condi- 
tions of  the  people,  we  must  elevate  the 
moral  standards  of  the  people.  Democracy 
will  be  effective  in  proportion  to  the  inten- 
sity of  its  spiritual  and  moral  faith ;  .  .  and 
only  a  democracy  built  upon  the  highest 
form  of  character  will  prove  to  be  that  in- 
strument by  which  the  world  is  to  be 
saved,"  do  we  realize  that  he  is  challenging 
the  church  to  assert  and  maintain  her  au- 
thority and  leadership  in  the  field  of  morals? 
But  the  church  cannot  maintain  that  au- 
thority if  it  is  content  to  talk  merely  of  the 
ethics  of  personal  life  while  it  leaves  the 
great  field  of  social  relationships  to  secular 

94 


Social  Applications  at  Home 

teachers.  To  forbear  to  bring  its  prophetic 
insight  to  the  problem  of  justice,  to  allow  so- 
cialism and  philanthropy  to  surpass  the 
church  in  moral  indignation  and  the  ethical 
discernment  will  be  to  forfeit  the  respect  of 
this  generation.  Democracy  wrestles  with 
the  gigantic  problem  of  justice.  There  are 
scores  of  situations  where  the  old  stand- 
ards of  right  and  wrong  no  longer  avail. 
Democracy  waits  for  a  clear,  inspired  word. 
Jesus  has  it.  But  only  a  church  built  upon 
an  avowedly  missionary  basis  can  disclose 
it  to  this  age. 

Even  more  insistent  than  the  call  of 
democracy  for  moral  leadership  is  its  hun- 
ger for  a  spiritual  basis.  "  The  one  thing 
which  the  church  can  give  the  social  move- 
ment," said  a  famous  radical  to  the  writer 
recently,  "  is  a  basis  of  spiritual  values." 
After  all,  it  is  in  the  cosmic  roots,  the  eter- 
nal foundations  of  its  message,  that  the 
church  has  its  final  source  of  power.  It  is 
when  religion  has  spoken  in  mystery  and 
wonder  of  the  divine  that  it  has  brought 
peace  on  the  great  deeps  of  the  human  spirit. 
If  it  be  true,  as  De  Toqueville  says,  that  "  if 
faith  be  wanting  in  man  he  must  serve,  and 
if  he  would  be  free  he  must  believe,"  then 
the  struggle  for  justice  can  be  neither  per- 
manent  nor   successful    without   this   grip 

95 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

upon  the  eternal.  It  is  religion,  finally,  the  re- 
ligion of  a  divine  life  in  the  soul  of  man,  that 
can  stand  over  against  an  age  and  rebuke  it, 
that  can  bring  the  blush  of  shame  to  its 
cheek  and  the  pangs  of  guilt  to  its  heart. 
Such  a  religion  even  the  sociologists  are  cry- 
ing for  as  the  great  need  of  our  day.  J.  S. 
Mackenzie,  formerly  of  Cambridge,  for  in- 
stance, says  that  our  greatest  social  need  is 
motive  power.  "  We  need  prophets  as  well 
as  teachers.  Perhaps  we  want  a  new  Christ. 
We  still  look  for  one  who  will  show  us  with 
clearness  the  presence  of  the  divine  in  the 
human."  Democracy  needs  the  religion  as 
well  as  the  ethics  of  a  missionary  church  to 
satisfy  its  longing  for  moral  leadership  and 
a  spiritual  basis. 

We  need  the  social  application  of  the 
missionary  motive  at  home. 

3.  To  lend  sincerity  and  security  to  the 
proclamation  of  the  Christian  message 
abroad. 

The  telegram  sent  across  the  continent  in 
the  early  part  of  December  from  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment that  the  Des  Moines  convention  might 
not  be  held  on  account  of  the  coal  strike 
threw  into  dramatic  relief  the  unity  of  the 
missionary  problem  at  home  and  abroad. 
In  a  moment  of  time  we  saw  that  the  busi- 

96 


Social  Applications  at  Home 

ness  of  securing  justice  and  brotherliness  by 
the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  in  Osaka, 
Bombay,  or  Rangoon  could  not  be  dis- 
patched if  injustice  and  hatred  were  the 
order  of  the  day  of  Cherry  Valley,  111., 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  or  in  the  coal  towns  along 
the  Monongahela.  There  could  not  be  one 
attitude  toward  a  yellow  man  in  Canton  and 
another  toward  a  slave  in  West  Virginia. 
The  failure  to  secure  justice  in  America 
finally  threatened  paralysis  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  foreign  missions. 

That  subtle  danger  which  the  coal  strike 
dramatized  exists  all  the  while.  The  con- 
trast between  the  message  of  the  missionary 
and  the  social  achievements  and  conditions 
of  the  missionary's  home  will  not  always 
remain  undiscovered  by  the  Oriental.  That 
contrast  threatens  the  sincerity  of  the  mis- 
sionary's appeal.  Throughout  the  last 
generation  the  young  Japanese  who  re- 
turned home  from  the  West  brought  back 
the  message  that  the  great  word  in  the  West 
was  power — power  through  science  harness- 
ing the  forces  of  nature,  power  through  in- 
dustrial organization,  power  through  mili- 
tarism. Then  the  great  war  broke  out.  As 
the  struggle  progressed,  battle  by  battle,  se- 
cret treaty  after  secret  treaty,  the  Japanese 
statesmen  wrote  the  word  "  correct  "  across 

g  97 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

the  portfolios  of  reports  filed  with  the  intel- 
ligence department  at  Tokyo  by  the  Japan- 
ese students  who  had  said  that  the  primary 
interest  of  the  Western  nations  was  power. 
Shall  we  speak  forever  to  the  Orient  with 
one  voice  by  our  missionaries  and  with 
another  voice  by  our  traders,  our  diplomats, 
and  our  civilization?  Unless  Christianity 
can  be  embodied  in  the  social  achievements 
and  ideals  of  our  nation  as  a  whole,  the  sin- 
cerity of  our  appeal  in  the  East  is  jeopard- 
ized. 

The  situation  is  even  more  critical.  Un- 
less we  can  restrain  the  various  groups 
clamoring  incessantly  for  war  with  Japan, 
unless  the  imperialistic  and  militaristic  ten- 
dencies which  wear  the  thinnest  of  dis- 
guises in  the  press  propaganda  are  curbed, 
we  are  on  the  way  toward  destroying  in  the 
catastrophe  of  war  the  results  of  a  half- 
century  of  missionary  toil  in  the  island  em- 
pire. War  with  Mexico,  resulting  from  any 
of  the  recurring  "  crises,"  would  have  a  dis- 
astrous effect  upon  the  entire  Protestant 
missionary  force  south  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
If  by  such  a  war  America  should  gain  the 
reputation  among  the  South  American 
states  of  being  an  imperialistic  power,  that 
reputation  would  not  stay  at  home.  It 
would  point  the  finger  of  suspicion  at  Amer- 

98 


Social  Applications  at  Home 

ica  in  all  her  undertakings  throughout  the 
world.  It  would  threaten  the  security  of 
our  foreign  missionary  enterprises  as  cer- 
tainly as  German  militarism  had  fruit  in  the 
destruction  of  the  German  missions  in  India 
and  Africa. 

We  have  come  to  the  end  of  our  task. 
The  social  application  of  the  missionary 
motive  at  home  is  necessary  to  the  growth  of 
Christian  personality,  to  satisfy  the  spirit- 
ual hunger  of  democracy,  and  to  the  sin- 
cerity and  security  of  the  missionary  enter- 
prise itself.  The  great  hope  is  that  the 
church  in  the  presence  of  the  challenge  of 
this  hour  may  frankly  and  boldly  accept  the 
missionary  motive  as  the  dominant  motive 
of  her  own  life.  Few  have  been  the  mo- 
ments in  the  church's  history  more  fraught 
with  the  burden  of  decision  than  the  mo- 
ment which  we  call  today.  Let  the  church 
be  bold  before  men  that  its  justice  may  burn 
with  indignation  and  heal  with  pity.  Let 
it  be  bold  before  God  that  its  fellowship 
with  him  may  be  vital  enough  to  convince 
the  world  of  its  reality.  Let  it  be  bold  as  it 
gazes  into  its  own  heart  that  it  dare  to 
actualize  before  the  world  the  dream  of  its 
Master,  "  All  ye  are  brethren."  A  religious 
institution  with  such  boldness  will  live  in 
this  democratic  age.     It  will  be  hated.     It 

99 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

will  be  attacked.  It  will  be  feared.  But  it 
will  be  passionately  loved,  and  it  will  win. 
It  may  be  crucified,  but  it  will  rise  again  on 
the  third  day.  God  grant  that  that  institu- 
tion may  be  the  Christian  church 


ioo 


VII 

OUGHT   THE    UNITED    STATES 
TO  BE  A  MISSIONARY  NATION? 

By  ERNEST  D.  BURTON 


OUGHT   THE    UNITED    STATES 
TO  BE  A  MISSIONARY  NATION? 


Some  twenty  years  ago  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment in  China's  history,  Chang  Chih  Tung 
wrote  a  little  book  which  was  translated 
into  English  under  the  title,  "  Christianity 
China's  Only  Hope."  Is  it  not  time  for 
some  far-sighted  American  to  write  a  book 
entitled,  "  The  Adoption  of  the  Missionary 
Spirit  America's  Only  Hope  for  Future 
Greatness  "  ? 

But  what  is  the  missionary  spirit  ideally 
defined?  It  is  not  the  spirit  of  conquest, 
military,  intellectual,  or  religious.  Moham- 
medanism has  been  a  missionary  religion, 
but  not  so  far  as  it  has  won  its  converts  by 
force  has  it  been  a  missionary  religion  in  our 
sense  of  the  word.  The  strenuous  efforts  to 
spread  German  kultur  throughout  the  world 
were  missionary  in  a  sense,  but  not  in  the 
sense  in  which  we  are  now  speaking  of  the 
missionary  spirit. 

The  missionary  spirit  in  its  truly  Chris- 
tian expression  recognizes  that  people  are 

103 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

the  center  of  every  problem,  that  human 
welfare  in  its  highest  sense  can  never  be 
imposed  upon  people  by  force. 

He  who  believes  in  the  mission  and  des- 
tiny of  his  own  nation  ought  for  that  very 
reason  to  recognize  and  respect  the  peculiar 
genius  of  every  other  nation.  In  his  re- 
cent book  on  Americanization  Dr.  Charles 
Brooks  well  says : 

"  Americanization  does  not  involve  ha- 
tred or  contempt  of  other  nations.  .  .  Many 
of  the  truest  patriots  are  the  missionaries  of 
the  finest  world  fraternity.  Mazzini,  the 
Italian  statesman  and  patriot,  has  given  this 
beautiful  expression  to  the  truth :  '  Every 
people  has  its  special  mission,  which  will  co- 
operate toward  the  fulfilment -of  the  gen- 
eral mission  of  humanity.  That  mission 
constitutes  its  nationality.  Nationality  is 
sacred/  " 

If  the  missionary  spirit  meant  conquest, 
every  true  American  would  pray  that  his 
country  might  have  none  of  it. 

Nor  is  the  missionary  spirit  identical  with 
propagandist  zeal.  The  propagandist  is  a 
man  who  wants  other  people  to  accept  his 
opinions.  A  certain  element  and  form  of 
this  spirit  must  doubtless  enter  into  the  ef- 
fort and  plan  of  the  missionary.  But  when 
the   missionary   becomes   simply   a   propa- 

104 


The  United  States  a  Missionary  Nation 

gandist,  he  has  missed  the  essence  of  the 
missionary  spirit.  The  missionary  who  has 
really  caught  the  spirit  of  Jesus  is  su- 
premely interested  in  people  and  their  wel- 
fare, and  while  right  opinions  contribute 
mightily  to  human  welfare,  the  two  are  not 
identical.  Life  is  more  than  thought. 
Character  is  shaped  by  other  agencies  than 
dogma.  Personalities  are  more  potential 
than  opinions.  Conduct  shapes  character  as 
truly  as  convictions  control  conduct,  and 
conduct  comes  as  often  by  example  as  by 
precept.  The  true  missionary  is  interested 
in  people  believing  the  truth  because  he 
knows  that  the  truth  will  make  them  free. 
But  he  knows  that  freedom  does  not  come 
as  the  result  of  adopting  opinions  that  have 
no  root  in  experience.  Enlightened  minds, 
liberated  personalities,  wills  set  free  for  the 
highest — these  are  the  goals  of  his  ambi- 
tion, not  reciters  of  creeds,  however  true 
and  vital  these  creeds  may  be  to  the  mis- 
sionary who  propagates  them. 

The  essence  of  the  missionary  spirit  in 
the  Christian  sense  of  the  words  is  the  de- 
sire that  others  shall  possess  what  we  have 
ourselves  found  to  be  the  real  goods  of 
life — a  desire  not  vaguely  cherished  as  an 
unessential  sentiment,  but  affecting  action. 
This  spirit  will  necessarily,  because  of  dif- 

105 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

ference  in  circumstances,  find  various  ex- 
pressions in  different  persons,  a  different  ex- 
pression in  an  individual  from  that  which  it 
finds  in  a  group,  and  different  in  a  voluntary 
group  from  that  which  it  finds  in  a  nation. 
In  the  last  analysis  the  missionary  spirit  is 
simply  good-will  to  one's  fellow  men  as  dis- 
tinguished from  selfish  individualism. 

One  of  the  things  that  all  history  shows, 
but  recent  history  most  strikingly,  is  that 
there  is  but  one  morality  for  us  all,  whether 
individuals  or  groups,  whether  small  groups 
or  large.  That  which  is  evil  between  per- 
sons does  not  become  good  between  groups 
of  people,  nor  that  which  is  a  virtue  be- 
tween individuals  become  a  vice  when 
practised  by  multitudes  in  relation  to  one 
another. 

There  are  indeed  some  things  which  an 
individual  can  do  which  a  nation  cannot  do, 
because  doing  them  as  a  nation  involves 
either  a  practically  impossible  consent  of  all 
the  members  of  the  nation,  or  a  coercion  of 
the  minority  by  the  majority,  which  is  itself 
immoral.  We  are  well  agreed  in  America 
at  least  that  the  nation  ought  not  to  send  out 
men  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  Pres- 
byterian churches,  even  if  the  Presbyterians 
constituted  a  majority  of  the  nation.  But 
this  does  not  change  the  great   fact  that 

1 06 


The  United  States  a  Missionary  Nation 

moral  principles  are  universal  and  apply  to 
nations  as  well  as  to  individuals.  For  a 
nation  to  be  grasping,  unjust,  cruel,  is  as 
truly  wrong  as  for  an  individual,  and  the 
effect  of  the  injustice  and  cruelty  is  likely 
to  be  far  more  wide-spread  and  harmful 
than  in  any  case  of  an  individual.  The 
problem  of  national  morality  is  a  difficult 
one  and  perhaps  has  never  been  fully 
thought  out.  But  certainly  it  is  a  problem 
to  which  it  becomes  us  now  to  give  heed. 
For,  on  the  one  side,  we  have  lately  wit- 
nessed the  frightful  results  of  a  false  mor- 
ality adopted  by  a  nation  and  followed  on 
a  national  scale,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
as  a  nation  are  facing  problems  and  respon- 
sibilities which  loudly  call  upon  us  to  de- 
termine what  it  is  right  for  a  nation  to  do. 
On  the  great  road  that  nations  travel,  is  our 
course  to  be  upward  to  nobler  life  and 
greater  usefulness  or  downward  to  the  vices 
that,  invading  a  nation's  life,  enfeeble  and 
destroy  it  ? 

Facing  this  situation,  what  would  it  in- 
volve for  us  to  avow  it  as  our  aim  to  make 
the  United  States  a  missionary  nation  ?  We 
have  pointed  out  above  some  things  that  it 
would  not  involve,  such  as  a  spirit  of  con- 
quest or  a  propaganda  undertaken  by  the 
nation  on  behalf  of  any  type  of  organized 

107 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

religion.  Let  us  now  try  to  answer  it  posi- 
tively.   And  first  in  general  terms. 

The  United  States  would  be  a  missionary 
nation  if,  as  a  people,  we  were  pervaded  by 
the  desire  that  other  nations  should  enjoy 
all  the  things  which  our  experience  has 
taught  us  to  believe  are  the  real  goods  of 
life,  in  such  form  and  measure  as  would 
contribute  to  their  highest  welfare.  If  we 
had  this  spirit,  we  should  recognize  that  in 
the  expression  of  this  spirit  there  are  some 
things  which  we  can  do  as  individuals,  and 
only  as  individuals  or  as  small  voluntary 
groups,  certain  others  that  we  can  do  as 
large  groups,  such  as  Christian  denomina- 
tions or  as  undenominational,  but  Christian 
or  philanthropic  societies,  and  still  other 
things  which  we  must  do,  or  refrain  from 
doing,  as  a  nation  and  through  our  govern- 
ment. 

If,  then,  we  are  a  missionary  nation,  in- 
dividual missionaries  will  be  going  out  from 
us  to  other  lands.  For  there  will  be  a  mul- 
titude of  young  men  and  women  among 
us  whose  altruistic  good-will  will  extend  not 
only  to  their  neighbors  and  fellow  Ameri- 
cans, but  to  other  nations.  Realizing  how 
rapidly  the  world  is  becoming  one,  and  all 
nations,  being  made  of  one  blood  and  hav- 
ing common  needs  and  common  aspirations, 

1 08 


The  United  Stales  a  Missionary  Nation 

are  being  bound  together  into  one  commu- 
nity, they  will  desire  to  be  the  bearers  of 
Christianity's  message  and  the  witnesses  of 
America's  experience  to  the  lands  across  the 
seas.  They  will  not  all  hold  the  same 
opinions  and  they  will  not  all  do  the  same 
work.  Some  will  be  preachers,  some  teach- 
ers, some  physicians,  some  scientists  and 
engineers.  But  in  so  far  as  they  are  the 
representatives  of  the  nation's  missionary 
spirit,  they  will  be  moved  by  the  spirit  of 
good-will.  They  will  go  not  to  exploit  the 
nation  to  which  they  go,  but  to  contribute 
to  its  welfare  and  to  the  creation  of  a  spirit 
of  mutual  friendliness  that  shall  encircle  the 
earth.  If  they  are  intelligent,  they  will  not 
go  with  a  spirit  of  condescending  superior- 
ity or  with  a  zeal  for  conquest,  but  will 
recognize  that  as  Mazzini  says,  "  Every 
people  has  its  special  mission,  which  will  co- 
operate toward  the  fulfilment  of  the  gen- 
eral mission  of  humanity."  They  will  seek 
to  discover  that  mission,  to  learn  from  it 
what  they  can,  and  not  to  defeat  it,  but  to 
help  toward  its  fulfilment. 

If  we  are  a  missionary  nation,  there  will 
be  certain  to  be  among  us  many  individuals 
who,  unable  themselves  to  take  up  their 
residence  abroad  or  constrained  by  con- 
science not  to  do  so,  yet,  being  deeply  de- 

109 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

sirous  of  making  their  contribution  to  the 
world's  welfare  and  to  the  permeation  of 
the  world  by  those  great  principles  which 
Jesus  taught  and  exemplified,  will  unite  to- 
gether to  do  as  groups  the  things  that  they 
cannot  do  as  individuals.  Doubtless  these 
groups  will  grow  larger  and  larger,  not  only 
because  they  will  add  individuals  to  their 
number,  but  because  the  several  societies, 
perceiving  the  identity  of  their  purpose  and 
the  advantages  of  unity  of  effort,  will  co- 
ordinate their  plans  and  combine  their  ef- 
forts. This  process  we  are  now  witnessing. 
Denominational  societies,  having  learned  by 
experience  the  advantages  of  cooperation 
on  the  field  of  their  missionary  effort, 
are  now  discovering  the  great  advantages 
of  a  combined  appeal  to  the  Christian  com- 
munity at  home.  This  very  process  is  tend- 
ing to  make  us,  to  an  extent  scarcely 
dreamed  of  a  generation  ago,  a  missionary 
nation.  The  missionary  enterprise  has  a 
standing  in  the  nation,  and  a  hold  upon  the 
thought  and  conscience  of  the  nation  sur- 
passing that  of  a  decade  ago.  Where  shall 
we  be  a  decade  hence  if  the  plans  now  de- 
veloping for  a  united  appeal  of  all  the  mis- 
sionary organizations  to  all  in  the  nation 
who  are  in  sympathy  with  their  aims  shall 
have  that  realization  that  now  seems  possi- 

no 


The  United  States  a  Missionary  Nation 

ble  ?  In  ways  we  did  not  anticipate  or  dare 
to  hope  for,  we  are  becoming  a  missionary 
nation. 

But  can  we  strictly  as  a  nation,  as  a  po- 
litical entity,  have  any  part  in  this  success? 
By  abstinence  from  certain  courses  of 
action  which  have  been  common  among  na- 
tions, we  certainly  can.  There  is  no  obsta- 
cle in  morals  or  the  Constitution  or  interna- 
tional law  or  sound  political  science  to  our 
rigorously  refusing  to  share  in  any  act  of 
injustice  to  another  nation.  We  can  be 
scrupulous  with  the  scrupulousness  of  a 
sensitive  conscience  in  no  way  to  invade  the 
right  or  harm  the  life  of  another  people. 
And  this  itself  would  have  missionary  value. 
Such  a  course  of  action  is  necessarily  the 
expression  of  a  national  conscience.  Being 
so,  it  will  ultimately  be  recognized  as  such 
alike  by  the  nation  directly  affected  by  the 
action  and  by  others  who  only  look  on.  It 
can  but  contribute  powerfully  to  bring  inter- 
national injustice  to  an  end. 

But  there  is  more  than  this  that  we  can 
do  and  ought  to  do.  The  truth  is,  there  is 
no  middle  ground  between  national  selfish- 
ness and  national  good-will.  The  middle 
point  of  indifference  is  a  point  of  unstable 
equilibrium  impossible  to  maintain.  Justice 
has  no  secure  foundation  except  in  good- 

iii 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

will,  and  if  there  is  good-will,  it  will  find 
for  itself  positive  expression.  Recent  years 
have  witnessed  wonderful  progress  in  this 
kind  of  positive  altruistic  action.  Our  theo- 
ries perhaps  would  have  said  that  in  times 
of  disaster  abroad,  individuals  and  groups 
might  contribute  to  the  relief  of  suffering, 
but  that  money  raised  by  taxation  could  not 
be  appropriated  for  such  purposes.  Yet 
again  and  again  Congress  has  made  such 
appropriations  without  protest  from  the 
people.  Recall,  for  example,  that  train 
that  sped  eastward  to  the  relief  of  Halifax 
in  the  time  of  the  disaster  caused  by  the 
explosion  of  steamships  in  her  harbor,  bear- 
ing carloads  of  material  paid  for  out  of  the 
national  treasury.  But  far  more  significant 
was  the  act  of  the  United  States  in  entering 
the  great  war.  I  know  there  are  cynics  to- 
day who  tell  us  that  we  went  in  to  save 
ourselves,  and  doubtless  there  is  an  element 
of  truth  in  that  statement.  But  they  do  but 
slander  their  own  people,  if  they  do  not 
also  belittle  their  own  motives,  who  tell  us 
that  national  selfishness  was  the  only  or  the 
chief  motive  that  led  to  the  act  of  April, 
191 7.  The  official  record  is  clear  and  the 
broader  evidence  of  history  is  clear.  Let  us 
not  be  false  to  our  own  best  impulses  and 
motives  by  being  ashamed,  after  the  battle, 

112 


The  United  States  a  Missionary  Nation 

of  the  motives  that  led  many  of  our  sons  to 
lay  down  their  lives,  and  many  a  father  and 
mother  to  give  them  up  without  hesitation. 
Remember  those  great  words  of  Kenneth 
MacLeish,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew 
MacLeish  of  Glencoe,  111.,  written  only  a 
few  days  before  he  made  his  last  heroic 
flight : 

"  If  I  find  it  necessary  to  make  the  su- 
preme sacrifice,  always  remember  this — I 
am  so  firmly  convinced  that  the  ideals  I  am 
going  to  fight  for  are  right  and  splendid 
ideals  that  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  give  so 
much  for  them.  I  could  not  have  any  self- 
respect,  I  could  not  consider  myself  a  man, 
if  I  saw  these  ideals  defeated  when  it  lies 
in  my  power  to  defend  them. 

"  So  I  have  no  fears !  I  have  no  regrets ; 
I  have  only  to  thank  God  for  such  a  won- 
derful opportunity  to  serve  him  and  the 
world.  No,  if  I  must  make  the  supreme 
sacrifice,  I  will  do  it  gladly  and  I  will  do  it 
honorably  and  bravely,  as  your  son  should, 
and  the  life  that  I  lay  down  will  be  my 
preparation  for  the  grander,  finer  life  that 
I  shall  take  up.    I  shall  live ! 

"  You  must  not  grieve.  I  shall  be  su- 
premely happy — so  must  you — not  that  I 
have  '  gone  west,'  but  that  I  have  bought 

h  113 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

such  a  wonderful  life  at  so  small  a  price  and 
paid  for  it  so  gladly." 

Shall  we  as  a  nation  in  the  days  of  peace 
he  true  to  that  vision  of  service  that  came 
to  us  in  the  war  ?  How  we  shall  do  it  is  an 
important  question — a  question  for  states- 
men and  political  scientists  to  study  and 
help  us  to  solve.  But  the  fundamental  ques- 
tion is  whether  we  recognize  that  a  nation 
cannot  only  abstain  from  injustice,  but,  be- 
ing a  member  of  the  great  family  of  nations, 
live  as  a  member  of  the  family,  seeking  the 
highest  welfare  of  its  own  people  in  the 
highest  welfare  of  the  world.  If  we  must 
find  justification  for  it,  it  is  amply  justified 
in  the  evidence  of  history  that  national 
selfishness  leads  to  the  destruction  of  the 
nation.  It  is  true  of  nations  as  of  men  that 
he  that  saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it. 

We  have  been  moving,  not  steadily,  per- 
haps not  rapidly,  but  on  the  whole  moving, 
toward  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  while 
a  nation  cannot  act  exactly  as  an  individual 
acts  because  it  is  not  an  individual,  it  yet 
can  act,  and  for  its  own  sake  and  the 
world's  sake  must  act,  on  the  principle  of  the 
Golden  Rule.  In  this  time  of  reaction,  after 
action,  many  are  lifting  up  their  voices 
against  such  a  principle  who  in  the  storm 

114 


The  United  States  a  Missionary  Nation 

and  stress  of  war  were  silent  or  spoke  on 
the  other  side.  It  is  time  for  men  of  clearer 
vision  to  stand  firm  in  its  defense,  cautious 
no  doubt  in  the  application  of  it  lest  it  be 
discredited  by  misapplication,  but  unshaka- 
bly  firm  in  defense  of  the  principle  and  in 
effort  for  the  gradual  conformity  of  our 
national  action  to  it. 

But  possibly  under  all  the  circumstances, 
the  most-  effective  expression  of  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  which  we  could  make  at  this 
time  would  be  in  the  application  of  it  to  our 
own  industrial  and  social  problems.  That 
it  has  such  application  is  as  certain  as  that 
such  problem  exists.  The  same  principle 
that  ought  to  rule  between  nations  ought 
also  to  rule  between  the  classes  of  a  nation. 
To  deal  justly  and  fairly  with  one  another, 
to  apply  the  Golden  Rule  to  the  problems  of 
employer  and  employee,  of  laborer  and  capi- 
talist, to  the  relations  of  black  and  white,  of 
new  Americans  and  old  Americans,  would 
not  only  be  in  itself  a  great  achievement, 
but  would  be  of  immense  advantage  to  us 
in  our  relations  with  other  nations.  It  js  a 
strange  paradox  that  our  record  of  relations 
to  other  people  is  much  brighter  than  that 
of  our  dealings  with  one  another. 

It  is  the  destiny  of  the  missionary  spirit, 
as  that  spirit  was  exemplified  in  Jesus  Christ 

115 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

and  as  it  finds  expression  today  in  the  most 
intelligent  and  Christlike  of  his  followers, 
to  permeate  all  society  and  to  control  the 
relations  of  all  groups  of  people  to  one 
another.  The  loud  call  of  divine  providence 
to  the  United  States — but  not  to  her  alone 
— is  to  become  a  missionary  nation.  The 
adoption  of  the  missionary  spirit  is  Amer- 
ica's only  hope  for  future  greatness  and  for 
the  fulfilment  of  her  destiny. 


116 


VIII 

THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE— ITS 

APPEAL  TO  THE  YOUTH 

OF  OUR  DAY 

By  P.  H.  J.  LERRIGO 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE— ITS 

APPEAL  TO  THE  YOUTH 

OF  OUR  DAY 


A  boy's  pocket  and  a  boy's  heart  are 
pretty  apt  to  contain  the  same  kind  of  a 
miscellaneous  assortment  of  odds  and  ends. 
The  raw  material  of  youth  is  the  same 
everywhere.  It  is  a  singular  jumble  of 
selfishness,  sentiment,  idealism,  meanness, 
clear  vision,  pettiness,  heroism,  and  gener- 
osity. 

Heredity  and  past  training  determine 
which  of  these  elements  predominate,  but  it 
is  evident  that  the  right  stimulus  will  serve 
to  clear  the  debris  from  about  any  one  of 
them  and  cause  it  to  emerge  as  the  dominat- 
ing factor  in  life  and  determine  the  kind  of 
individual  the  youth  is  to  be. 

It  is  here  that  maturity  owes  a  debt  to 
youth.  It  should  furnish  such  a  stimulus 
from  its  own  experience  as  will  insure  a 
right  choice,  and  should  then  so  govern  the 
environment  as  to  make  the  stimulus  effec- 
tive. 

119 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

There  must  be  a  choice.  There  comes  a 
day  when  it  is  high  time  to  sort  out  that 
pocket.  It  is  impossible  for  all  these  ele- 
ments to  grow  in  equal  proportions.  Many 
of  them  are  mutually  antagonistic.  Some 
will  develop  and  others  atrophy.  The  ulti- 
mate man  is  the  product  of  the  elements 
upon  which  the  choice  falls. 

We  owe  it  to  our  young  people  to  give 
them  an  adequate  presentation  of  the  mis- 
sionary motive.  In  itself  it  is  the  test  and 
touchstone  of  life.  It  acts  as  a  chemical  re- 
agent, and  at  the  moment  of  its  effective 
introduction  the  elements  of  moral  growth 
group  themselves  about  it.  When  the  mis- 
sionary motive  has  met  a  response  in  the 
heart  of  youth,  there  emerges  a  group  of 
impulses  which  constructively  interweave 
into  a  definite  purpose. 

There  is  the  impulse  to  self-giving.  It 
may  coexist  with  a  queer  mixture  of  other 
motives.  But  it  can  hardly  be  said  ever  to 
be  entirely  absent  from  the  heart  of  youth. 
A  sergeant  in  the  service  overseas  relates 
the  story  of  a  young  fellow  who  was  sent 
to  France  for  replacement.  Jealous  of  the 
two  gold  stripes  worn  by  the  men  in  whose 
company  he  now  found  himself,  he  went  to 
the  nearest  town,  bought  similar  stripes  and 
put  them  on.    Nothing  was  said,  but  his  fel- 

12Q 


Its  Appeal  to  the  Young 


lows  prepared  to  give  him  a  lesson.  The 
head  sergeant  purchased  a  Croix  de  Guerre, 
borrowed  the  captain's  Sam  Brown  belt, 
and  staged  an  impressive  ceremony  in  the 
dusk  of  the  evening  remote  from  the  camp, 
in  which  the  company  indulged  in  much  hi- 
larity, while  the  sergeant  decorated  the 
young  man  with  the  medal.  Yellow,  you 
call  him;  but  the  impulse  to  sacrifice  was 
there.  Two  weeks  later  the  entire  regiment 
stood  at  attention  while  General  Petain  him- 
self pinned  the  Croix  de  Guerre,  with  palm, 
upon  the  young  man.  He  had  gone  over 
the  top  alone  at  night  and  brought  in  seven- 
teen prisoners  and  seven  machine  guns. 

It  was  an  impulse  to  self -giving  which 
underlay  the  wonderful  morale  of  the 
American  troops.  When  combined  with  a 
simple  faith,  it  was  sometimes  free  from  any 
admixture  of  grosser  sentiments.  The 
teaching  of  a  Christian  home  spoke  in  the 
clear  ringing  note  of  the  message  written  by 
Lieut.  Kenneth  MacLeish  before  he  fell  in 
battle :  "  I  have  no  fears !  I  have  no  re- 
grets !  I  have  only  to  thank  God  for  such  a 
wonderful  opportunity  to  serve  him  and  the 
world.  No!  if  I  must  make  the  supreme 
sacrifice,  I  will  do  it  gladly  and  I  will  do  it 
honorably  and  bravely,  as  your  son  should, 
and  the  life  that  I  lay  down  will  be  my 

I2| 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

preparation  for  the  grander,  finer  life  that 
I  shall  take  up.    I  shall  live!  " 

There  is  the  impulse  to  self-development. 
Small  boys  want  to  be  big.  Youth  wants 
to  be  important — feels,  indeed,  that  it  is  im- 
portant. And  youth  is  right  about  it.  It 
knows  its  temptation  to  littleness  and  also 
its  potentialities  of  greatness.  In  a  recent 
number  of  the  Yale  Review  appeared  the 
following  lines : 

Stars 

I  am  the  Captain  of  my  soul, 

Beneath  the  heaven  of  All  Souls, 

And  see  them  twinkling  all  about 

Who  won  through  to  their  briary  goals; 

When  I  look  up  into  the  dome 

Their  gathered  constellations  wreathe — 

The  Great,  the  Faithful,  trooping  home — 

I  am  so  small,  I  scarcely  breathe. 

I  am  so  great — for  I  am  I. 
Not  one,  of  all  the  starry  band, 
Went  just  the  way  I  travel  by 
To  overtake  my  fatherland, 
Seeking  forever  mine  own  Sign, 
Lord  of  my  spirit's  lone  estate, 
My  soul's  a  heaven  where  they  shin« 
A  part  of  me — I  am  so  great. 

Thrice  blest  is  he  who  at  the  moment  of 
choice  can  furnish  the  stimulus  which  will 
lead  youth's  purpose  to  crystallize  about  the 

122 


Its  Appeal  to  the  Young 


greatness  of  life  rather  than  its  littleness. 
There  is  a  condition  of  plastic  potentiality 
which  may  concrete  in  self-service,  money 
service,  or  world  service.  When  youth  of- 
fers life,  it  is  following  the  road  to  high- 
est self-development. 

There  is  the  impulse  to  invest  life  con- 
structively. Young  men  and  women  today 
are  insistent  that  their  powers  shall  be 
judged  by  actual  achievement.  One  reason 
why  men  are  turning  in  larger  numbers  to 
the  secondary  phases  of  Christian  service 
than  to  direct  ministry  of  the  gospel  is  this 
desire  to  build  something  concrete  and  to 
see  their  efforts  emerge  in  constructive  re- 
sults. Failing  to  realize  the  basic  construc- 
tive value  of  the  work  of  spiritual  leader- 
ship, they  seek  tangible  results  in  medical, 
industrial,  social,  or  educational  service. 
They  have  an  inner  urging  to  institutional- 
ize their  life's  product. 

But  we  must  not  fail  to  realize  that  this 
desire  is  closely  knit  to  the  principle  of  self- 
giving.  To  be  one's  biggest  self  and  then 
to  abandon  that  self  to  a  constructive  king- 
dom task  is  the  purpose  which  is  crystalliz- 
ing now  in  the  thinking  of  our  young  peo- 
ple perhaps  to  a  greater  degree  than  ever. 

And  construction  is  always  built  upon 
sacrifice.     At  La   Panne,   almost  the  last 


123 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

foothold  of  ground  left  to  the  Belgians  by 
the  German  advance,  stands  a  great  me- 
morial hospital.  Spread  out  over  acres  of 
ground  are  the  wards,  operating-rooms, 
power-house,  disinfecting  plant,  and  steam 
laundry.  And  dominating  it  upon  the  sand 
dune  above  is  a  little  chapel  and  the  grave 
of  the  brave  soul  whose  self -giving  made 
possible  this  great  plant.  It  was  Madame 
DePage,  wife  of  Doctor  DePage,  chief  sur- 
geon and  director,  who  went  to  the  United 
States  to  voice  the  fearful  extremity  of  her 
people.  Returning  home,  successful,  with  a 
certified  check  for  a  million  francs,  she 
sailed  upon  the  Lusitania.  Among  the 
bodies  tenderly  laid  out  and  cared  for  upon 
the  Irish  shore  was  hers.  And  tightly 
clasped  in  the  dead  hand  was  the  check  for 
a  million  francs.  Not  always  will  the  sac- 
rifice be  required  in  just  this  way,  but  the 
annals  of  missionary  service  today  are 
crowded  with  stories  of  those  who  are  thus 
uniting  self -giving  and  constructive  achieve- 
ment. 

There  is  the  impulse  to  meet  life  at  its 
point  of  greatest  need.  This  is  the  logic  of 
generosity.  It  underlies  and  supports  the 
missionary  motive.  One  of  the  commonest 
statements  of  the  student  volunteer  is,  "  I 
should  like  to  go  where  the  need  is  great- 

124 


Its  Appeal  to  the  Young 


est."  And  this  becomes  the  dominating 
principle  of  life's  action  in  the  man  who  has 
given  himself  to  world  service.  This  is 
why  the  missionary  springs  so  promptly 
through  the  door  of  need  opened  by  a  great 
national  calamity,  such  as  famine  in  India, 
or  floods  in  China.  Dr.  H.  W.  Newman 
had  been  engaged  for  five  years  in  success- 
ful medical  work  in  South  China,  having 
charge  of  the  hospital  at  Ungkung,  when 
the  call  of  greater  need  led  him  to  enter  the 
American  Red  Cross  work  in  Siberia.  He 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  anti-typhus 
campaign  and  lived  in  a  car  on  the  Siberian 
Railroad  while  waging  a  successful  battle 
against  typhus  fever,  the  disease  of  the 
underfed.  Major  Geo.  W.  Simmons,  spe- 
cial Red  Cross  commissioner,  is  quoted  re- 
garding Doctor  Newman's  work  as  follows : 
"  In  the  history  of  the  Red  Cross  achieve- 
ment in  Siberia,  there  will  be  no  greater 
credit  due  any  individual  than  that  due 
Doctor  Newman  for  the  successful  accom- 
plishment of  his  anti-typhus  work  at  Che- 
liabinsk  and  Petropavlosk.  Almost  with- 
out American  aid,  Doctor  Newman  cleaned 
out  a  factory  building  and  installed  an  effi- 
cient typhus  hospital  and  later  built  up  a 
hospital  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  beds  at 
Petropavlosk,   where,   under  his  direction, 


125 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

the  mortality  rate  was  cut  down  by  two- 
thirds."  Doctor  Newman,  now  Major 
Newman,  was  organizing  a  surgical  hos- 
pital of  1,500  beds  when  he  was  compelled 
to  evacuate  before  the  Bolshevik's  advance. 
He  then  fell  a  victim  to  the  disease  which  he 
had  been  so  successfully  combating  and 
while  seriously  ill  was  carried  five  weeks  to 
the  port  of  embarkation  whence  he  returned 
to  America. 

It  is  the  argument  of  need  in  the  foreign 
mission  appeal  which  has  stirred  the  hearts 
of  our  young  people  beyond  almost  any 
other  element:  the  appeal  of  destitution  in 
physical  and  mental  things,  but,  above  all, 
the  appeal  which  lies  in  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual poverty  of  the  non-Christian  world. 

Mr.  Linzell,  of  India,  tells  of  a  village  of 
three  thousand  where  the  leaders  came  to- 
gether to  examine  their  moral  situation. 
They  discovered  a  condition  of  social  filth 
well-nigh  indescribable.  There  is  nothing 
remarkable  about  this  when  one  considers 
the  usual  phenomena  of  social  life  in  India, 
but  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  there  was 
enough  spiritual  insight  among  them  to 
enable  them  to  trace  the  condition  to  its 
source.  "No  wonder  we  are  so  depraved," 
they  said,  "  while  we  are  worshiping  these 
licentious  gods  and  goddesses."     They  de- 

126 


Its  Appeal  to  the  Young 


cided  to  change  their  religion,  and  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  choose  a  new  one. 
They  deliberated  a  week.  Overtures  made 
by  the  Mohammedans  and  the  Arya  Somaj 
were  rejected.  Finally  they  decided  to 
adopt  Christianity,  and  a  messenger  was 
sent  to  the  missionary  in  the  adjacent  town. 
The  overwhelming  need  of  the  situation  is 
emphasized  by  the  fact  that  the  missionary 
had  to  reply  that  there  was  no  worker  to 
send  to  them. 

Unmet  need  is  shattering  to  the  peace  of 
the  Christian  soul.  It  pours  over  the  spirit 
like  a  devastating  flood,  and  the  impulse  is 
to  fling  oneself  into  the  breach. 

There  is  the  lure  of  the  unfamiliar.  For- 
eign peoples  and  scenes  awaken  and  stimu- 
late the  imagination  of  youth.  Sea  tales 
and  adventures  in  foreign  lands  are  the 
natural  choice  of  youth.  Who  of  us  does 
not  remember  the  fascination  which  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson's  "  Treasure  Island  "  held 
for  us  with  its  story  of  picturesque  char- 
acters and  buried  treasure?  But  there  is  a 
similar  element  in  the  missionary  motive. 
Many  of  the  missionaries  live  lives  of  al- 
most incredible  adventure;  for  example, 
John  G.  Paton  among  the  natives  of  the 
New  Hebrides.  Among  our  more  recent 
missionaries,  examples  of  the  same  kind  are 


127 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

not  wanting.  Long  John  Silver  presents 
no  more  picturesque  characteristics  than 
Capt.  Luke  Bickel,  the  sailor  missionary  of 
the  Inland  Sea.  In  Harrington's  life  of 
Captain  Bickel,  he  relates  that  the  latter 's 
voyage  led  him  far  afield,  "  over  the  trail 
of  the  deep  blue,  to  the  west  coast  of  South 
America,  to  Australia  and  to  Africa,  and 
their  incidents  would  make  a  fascinating 
tale  of  the  sea.  Every  voyage  he  went  gave 
him  an  opportunity  to  save  a  human  life,  an 
opportunity  which  his  courage,  strength, 
and  swiftness  in  action  enabled  him  to  seize. 
On  one  occasion  a  sailor  had  thrown  him- 
self into  the  sea,  intending  to  commit  sui- 
cide. Bickel  instantly  leaped  after  him  and, 
overcoming  his  resistance  by  sheer  force, 
succeeded  in  rescuing  him.  The  would-be 
suicide  repaid  him  with  curses,  at  which  the 
other  sailors  would  have  thrown  the  man 
overboard  again  had  not  Bickel  intervened." 
Captain  Bickel' s  subsequent  life  on  the 
Inland  Sea  of  Japan  as  a  sailor  missionary 
is  full  of  vivid  interest.  In  and  out  among 
the  innumerable  islands  sped  the  little  white- 
winged  messenger  of  faith,  the  Fukuin 
Maru,  and  neither  storm  nor  threatened 
wreck,  opposition  nor  persecution,  was  suffi- 
cient to  deter  its  indomitable  master. 
Among  the  trophies   of  his   service   were 

128 


Its  Appeal  to  the  Young 


riksha  men  and  soldiers,  teachers  and  samu- 
rai, policemen  and  clerks.  Captain  Bickel 
himself  tells  of  one,  Hirata  San,  a  short, 
ugly- faced  little  fellow,  built  in  a  lump,  who 
clambered  up  over  the  stern  of  the  vessel 
one  cold  winter  day  looking  for  a  job. 
"  He  had  one  virtue,  at  least — he  was 
openly,  cheerfully  evil.  He  and  the  devil 
went  watch  and  watch.  He  gambled,  stole, 
and  lied  by  preference.  He  drank  heavily 
and  loved  to  fight,  for  was  he  not  a  jiujitsu 
expert  of  seven  years'  training?  All  this 
he  did  and  worse."  But  two  years  of  con- 
stant association  with  the  captain  had  its 
effect.  Hirata  San  had  come  to  know  the 
great  captain  and  was  about  to  become  a 
little  captain  himself  in  charge  of  a  small 
Japanese  sailing  craft  to  be  used  for  col- 
portage.  "When  the  little  ship  was 
launched,  we  stood  on  the  beach  and 
watched  him  as  he  worked  up  to  his  waist 
in  water.  The  tears  were  streaming  down 
his  face  as  he  worked.  A  foreman  ship- 
wright stood  by  who  had  known  him  of  old, 
and  said,  '  Let  him  alone ;  he  has  a  vile 
temper.  He  is  so  mad  that  the  tears  are 
running  down  his  face  because  his  vessel  is 
stuck  a  bit  on  the  chocks.  He  is  dangerous 
at  such  times.'  Three  years  later  that  same 
foreman  was  baptized,  having  been  led  to 

i  129 


The  Triumph  of  the  Missionary  Motive 

Christ  by  our  friend.  After  a  most  aston- 
ishing profession  of  faith,  he  suddenly 
turned  to  us  and  said,  '  And,  captain,  I  now 
know  what  those  tears  meant/  " 

So  may  the  lure  of  the  unfamiliar  become 
an  element  in  the  appeal  of  the  missionary 
motive  to  our  young  people.  The  high  em- 
prise of  spiritual  endeavor  is  close  akin  to 
the  best  elements  which  animate  the  spirit 
of  adventure. 

Last,  but  most  important  of  all  the  ele- 
ments which  group  themselves  about  the 
missionary  motive  in  its  appeal  to  youth,  is 
the  impulse  to  follow  Jesus  Christ.  Never 
make  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  religion 
is  unnatural  to  growing  youth.  From  child- 
hood on,  the  game  of  "  Follow  the  Leader  " 
has  held  its  attraction,  and  boys  will  fol- 
low with  equal  abandon  whether  the  leader 
be  good  or  bad.  It  is  sometimes  a  hazard- 
ous game  and  may  easily  lead  into  danger 
and  evil.  It  depends  upon  who  is  leader. 
Young  people  will  yield  themselves  with 
ready  abandon  to  Christ  as  Leader,  if  we 
can  show  them  that  his  leadership  is  worth 
while  and  carries  with  it  those  virile  values 
and  elements  of  manhood  they  most  admire. 

If  we  can  present  Jesus  Christ  to  our 
young  people  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
natural  tendency  to  hero-worship  will  cen- 

130 


Its  Appeal  to  the   Young 


ter  about  him  as  the  supreme  figure,  we  shall 
have  provided  that  stimulus  which  will  deter- 
mine the  trend  of  the  future  life.  For  in 
him  every  one  of  these  impulses  which  to- 
gether make  up  the  missionary  motive  has 
found  its  highest  fulfilment.  The  impulse 
to  self-sacrifice  was  his  dominating  life  prin- 
ciple; the  impulse  to  self -development  was 
its  paradoxical  complement.  "If  it  die  it 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit,"  was  never  so 
exemplified  as  in  Jesus'  life.  The  impulse 
to  constructive  achievement  in  the  life  of 
Christ  is  bringing  its  cumulative  results 
through  the  centuries.  "  By  whom  also  he 
framed  the  ages."  The  impulse  to  meet 
life  at  its  point  of  greatest  need  blossomed 
in  his  compassionate  sympathy  for  suffer- 
ing. And  that  spirit  of  faith's  adventure 
into  the  unknown  was  perfectly  set  forth 
in  him  who  committed  himself  to  God  in 
the  great  adventure  of  man's  redemption. 

The  appeal  of  the  missionary  motive  to 
the  youth  of  our  day  is  that  "  Jesus  still 
leads  on  "  and  that  to  follow  him  is  to  lose 
oneself,  to  find  oneself,  to  adventure  for 
God,  and  to  build  for  eternity. 

"  I  have  written  unto  you,  young  men, 

Because  ye  are  strong, 

And  the  word  of  God  abideth  in  you 

And  ye  have  overcome." 


131 


Pt    :eton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1    1012  01234  0578 


Date  Due 

14  27  39 

1  ]  39 

f> 

